Veiled Secrets
by Invader1995
Summary: I can't tell if I'm lucky or not. I wake up in the Pokémon world, but I'm a Zorua in a world still run by humans. I'm alive yet somehow I survived something I should be dead from. I'm even being adopted as a pet and I have no idea how or why I'm here! Who can I put my trust in? What am I doing here? Most importantly: How do I get home?
1. Chapter 1

**This couldn't be fit into the description but this was inspired by an amazing fanfiction called I Became a Vulpix. I hope you enjoy this story this story, I'm personally not too confident in this so if you have any advice, things you like, or opinions at all on this I would very much appreciate you leave a Review.**

Dark, everything was so dark. I couldn't see anything, it felt like the world was spinning. I could barely stand and was blindly stumbling through the dark. Where am I? "Help me! Somebody help me!" I voice... a young voice... a woman? "Please!" trouble... someone's in trouble. Need to find her, where... Colors, dark colors, swirling, twirling blurred. Noises, metal falling, glass breaking. Screaming, still screaming... people, two people. Someone on the ground, tall man standing, can't see clearly... where am I? Burning, skin on fire, can't breath... have to help. Running, stumbling, running forward. Big, Giant, too tall. I hit something the giant fell. My skin's hurting, trying to pull the skin off of my neck, can't feel the ground. swinging my arms, kicking, screaming, more screaming, falling, head hurting... gotta fight... can't move.

I woke up to blinding lights. It almost hurt to open my eyes. I felt weird, no I can't breath... oh god! I can't breath! I tried to breath, it hurts! Oh God everything hurts! I can't move! I tried to scream for help, but I barely let out a gasp. "It came back!" a woman's voice screamed.

"That's impossible I have no heart readings!" another voice yelled

"Quick jump start it's heart, we almost have it. Stay with us!" the woman yelled again. Something pressed against my ribs "Clear!" a harsh shock to my body convulsed and made me bounce off of the bed. My heart moved a few times before it stopped... I could feel my own heart! Why can I feel my own heart?! "Clear!" another shock. I could breath again, the pain is horrible! It hurts to breath! I panicked I tried to sit up but even that hurt, I tried to look around but I couldn't see, doctors surrounded me but I couldn't see the room. My mind was racing, simply being alive was nothing but pain. I want it to stop, please make the pain stop! Thoughts rushhing into my brain, too fast to hold on to, need space, need air, I need to get up! Like burnning knives in my stomache, head throbbing, heart burning, it felt like my skin was on fire! I'm in a hospital? What happened to me?! I struggled more to sit up but the doctors held me down, I fought against them. I screamed and flailed as I tried to get out of their hands. I couldn't even hear my own voice. Nothing but Screams in my ears! I felt a sharp pain on my side. I slowed down, my vision blurred, the screams faded, I couldn't keep my eyes open.

I woke up, I could feel something numbing my body but I could feel a slight pain across my spine. The anesthetic must be running out. Was I really in a hospital? I tried to think back but my memory was fuzzy. I could only remember screaming. What happened? I tried moving my hand but it felt weird, I looked at it. It wasn't a hand, I had a paw! It was covered in red fur. My mind was still in a haze but I could feel lingering panic as I looked up my arm but it changed from red fur to grey. This had to be a dream but as I looked around I did realize I was in a hospital. I tried to move my arms and saw those fuzzy red and grey legs move on some sort of operation table. I could feel the fur -my fur- shifting and rubbing against the table. It hurt to move my head but I had to see something, I looked behind me and saw more grey fur with my body ending in a very fluffy tail. I was some sort of Fox that much I could tell. How did I become a Fox though? It seemed like a dream or even a nightmare, but the pain- the pain felt real. I could feel my body aching slightly around my stomach and across my spine. It is impossible, not even a one in a million odds. Evidence went against reason right now, this can't be happening. Yet somehow I was a weird Grey and Red fox, I couldn't place it but something felt familiar.

Their were electrodes attached to me connecting to a machine keeping track of my heart rate. Looking at it I noticed it had a somewhat irregular pattern to the beeping, my breathing did feel a little labored but it wasn't painful. I tried to stand up but my back right leg had shooting pain even with the lingering painkillers and only managed to lift myself a few inches before crying out in pain and falling back down. I started breathing heavy trying to cope with that pain and calm down as a result the machine I was hooked up to started beeping faster. I guess someone heard the commontion because a nurse ran in. This wasn't any regular nurse this was a nurse I had seen for about 20 years. A nurse with pink hair. I could barely beleive my eyes as I read the name tag "Joy" was this seriously Nurse Joy? I want to beleive I'm dreaming but the pain combined with feeling real fur tells me otherwise.

The Nurse checked me, tenderly touching me trying to check to see what is wrong. Then she touched my broken leg a quick pain shot up my leg and I flinched from the shock. I heard her let out a soft sigh and gently petted my head "You're lucky you didn't displace your leg after all that work we went through." she cooed. The petting felt oddly relaxing and without much thought I could feel my fluffy tail moving in joy. "Try to relax, with everything you've been through you were lucky to be alive." what did she mean by that? What happened? She stopped petting me and checked on a few other machines I didn't realize I was hooked up to. she switched out a bag of liquid that was hooked up to me. I wasn't entirely sure what it was for but I could make a few guesses. On closer inspection of everything I realized I had more than a broken leg. I had bandages wrapped around my torso I felt quite a few stitches and one of my ears felt weird, I could only guess I had a chunk taken out of my ear. Before I had time to think about any of my other problems a young girl, I guessed maybe early 20's maybe mid-20's, with blonde hair tied but in a rather small ponytail, fair skin and modestly dressed, it reminded me of those times my mom or sisters would get dressed up for some get together with friends. Beside her their was an older man who was clearly a police officer if the uniform was anything to go on. He had scruffy facial hair as if he hasn't had time to shave in a while and brown hair with signs of graying.

"Is Zorua okay?" the girl said in a worried tone. So I became a Zorua? What is happening? Pokemon don't exist so why is their a Nurse Joy here and why have I become a Zorua? It all feels so real yet it can't possibly be real. They clearly didn't know I was a human turned into a Zorua or they wouldn't be talking or treating me like this. When did this happen and how?

Nurse Joy tried to calm the girl down "He's fine he just didn't realize his leg was broken. He's been through a lot already but I can comfortably tell you the worst is behind us."

The police officer spoke up "He's a tough little guy too, He survived being poisoned, stabbed and thrown and he's still ready to get up, I don't think he's going anywhere." he smiled and reach out to pet me but I pulled my head back. Seeing that big hand of his reach for me was a little intimidating. He seemed dissapointed but didn't try to force it. I felt sort of bad that I upset him but his hand was almost as big as me and he was huge, it was scary.

"Tough as he may be he's still just a Zorua and he has been through hell and back he might be nervous around people for a while" Nurse Joy explained "It might be best to give him some peace and quiet while he heals." The two hesitated but quietly left with the girl looking over her shoulder and staring at me with eyes that seemed almost sad, did I know her? I quietly watched as this sight unfolded in front of me a real life Nurse Joy doing medical work on a guy who somehow turned into a Zorua that got violently mauled. Thinking on it now if I really was a Zorua then that would mean I have special powers and could have awesome battles just like in the Anime. I would guess this is closer to the anime version because Pokemon Centers always were bigger and more complicated in the Anime than the games. Could I even use my powers?

The Nurse took a small light and started shining it in each eye "Can you see?" she asked me "You took a few serious blows to the head and a few small sections of your brain have been bruised." Did she really expect me to answer? I wasn't sure if this was a direct copy of the anime world or some other version of pokemon. Did Pokemon understand human language properly or even have the intellegence or capabilities to answer? If I was a Pokemon but I used to be a human could I speak english or would I speak in the language of a Zorua? I didn't want to risk it, not right now. Who knows what would happen if she found out I wasn't a pokemon? Instead I just nodded. She seemed happy with this "Good to see that you've had no loss of hearing either." She smiled as she stood up "You know you are extremely lucky. I have seen plenty but I have never seen something like this let alone have a pokemon as small and young as you survive all of this. What has happened to you has created some serious talk." she commented with a twinge of admiration in her voice. Really? Their are plenty of news stories about animals before but I don't think something like this would be news breaking. Animal abuse is bad and it does get advertised every now and then but not like that. Why was my case so special?

"Nurse Joy!" another nurse yelled as she stormed in, I scooted back as much as my body allowed. This big loud creature storming in made me nervous. I think Joy noticed and had a flash of irritation on her face, from this lady scaring me but tried her best to hide it.

"What is it?" Joy questioned

"Journalists are asking to see the Zorua they-"

"Absolutely not!" Nurse Joy interrupted "The poor thing has gone through enough, it doesn't need all of the lights and noise right now. You have my permission to call security on them if they refuse to leave!" I was surprised when she snapped like that. But she does seem to genuinely care about me and my safety. I know I'm just a Zorua and not evolved but she treated me like a lost puppy. It felt almost demeaning in a way. I tried not to take it personally since she couldn't know but I didn't like all these people treating me like an animal. I thought back to how I enjoyed the petting I got from Nurse Joy and felt embarrased. I still have almost no clue what was happening either, one moment I am in my house and the next thing I know I got transported into the pokemon world, put in the body of a pokemon and nearly killed. I was shaken out of my thoughts by watching the new nurse run out to relay the message and actually got hit with the door on the way out. It got a laugh from me but I quickly noted it wasn't my typical laugh. It was tiny and sounded almost michevious it almost reminded me of a less threatening hyena laugh, it was a childish sounding snickering. Joy let out an exasperated sigh "At least we know you're feeling well enough to laugh" she gave a light smile that look almost exhausted. "You know one of your greatest tricks was making us think you died" she continued not wanting to look me in the eye "You really had us worried your heart stopped for a couple minutes and stopped moving." it surprised me, I was clinically dead for several minutes and I suddenly came back? "While I might not agree with all the things people have said about you I can agree that you are a fighter. You never gave up." while I didn't fully understand what she meant it made me feel sort of happy that I made her happy. I felt a weird sensation of having my tail start wagging, it was almost mesmerising in one way, felt weird in another, but overall felt kinda nice. I always wondered what it felt like to have a tail.

Though thinking back to what Nurse Joy said, I wondered what people where saying about me? It didn't sound like what was being said was good. I didn't do anything why are people talking bad about me? A good part of my memory was hazy, did I do something? No, I haven't even had time to do anything wrong. To my own surprise I let out a yawn "Still tired? You've been sleeping all day, but I guess some more sleep can do you good." Nurse Joy thought to herself. I was gently put into this cage that I couldn't say was big but it wasn't small either, it was a decent size. Their was a soft dog bed on on side almost taking up the length of the cage and put a small dish of food I couldn't identify and a bowel of water. Again I felt very embarassed by all of this. Being treated like a dog didn't sit well with me but a part of me just wanted rest so I didn't fight it too much she put me in the bed and made sure I could reach the dishes from where I was. I guess she was still worried about my leg. After some rearranging with wires I was nicely set into my cage with the heart monitor still attached to me. She turned off the lights and let me know that if anything happened they would know because of the machine and cameras and would rush in right away. Then she walked out. I was left alone now with nothing but the lights seeping in through the door, a beeping machine, this cage and my thoughts.

I had a lot of thoughts. Was I really in the pokemon world? Was it exactly like the anime or was it diffrent somehow? Why did this happen to me? Usually in stories this kind of thing happens for a reason and I would have some special mission or purpose but from where I stood this happened for no reason. Great start for an epic adventure, huh? Would I actually have the powers of a Pokemon? Would I have battles? Those were always the best part of the show and movies. Dodging lightning fast attacks, jumping twice my body height, shooting things from my mouth, that would be so cool. I let out another yawn, I really was tired but I had so many problems. Thinking too hard with no restful sleep wouldn't do me any good. I resolved to at least try to sleep on a dog bed, as embarrasing as it was. It hurt a little to lay on my belly and laying on my side hurt more, with my barely connected leg held in place with looked to me like a tiny cast I didn't want to shift on my back and risk pulling on it in some way so I decided that my belly was the best option. I found myself getting comfortable and slightly curling into a ball restristed mostly by my leg. The fluf of the bed somehow felt almost... nostalgic. It was fuzzy and welcoming, I found myself almost wishing it was longer so I could bury myself into the fluf. I let out a happy sigh and started to drift.

My sleep was far from peaceful my hearing was so good and I was so on edge that noises from out of my room kept waking me up. I stayed in my bed, the cushion was fuzzy and oddly comforting, it made me feel safe. At one point during the night I decided to test out my body. I tried standing as best as I could and managed to pull myself up with only three legs. Though it was embarrassing to actually be standing like a dog it didn't feel too... "out of place" I guess are the words I'm looking for? It probably would be more comfortable without keeping track of my other leg but as it stood it felt natural. I tried to focused on my senses and even though it was still mostly dark in my room my eyes seemed to almost pierce the darkness, it wasn't as clear as vision in the day time but I could still make things out easy. It seemed I had decent night vision, I could feel my ears twitching and moving as I listened to the light work that was outside my room. I noticed the light seeping in was dimmer than before, maybe it was night? I couldn't tell from in here since their wasn't a clock. I guess it made sense, why would they need a clock in a recovery room for animals? Still it would be nice to have something to do.

I started thinking back to everything that happened, I tried to pinpoint at what point I entered this world. The problem was I couldn't find that point, it happened too fast. I went to sleep in my bed then... I was really groggy and almost blind. They said I was poisoned, was the exact moment somewhere around that attack? The timing didn't make sense. My memory was in pieces and some parts were missing. Maybe that too had to do with my injuries, Nurse Joy said I had bruised sections of my brain from being beaten, some sort of blunt force memory loss? The more I thought about it the less it made sense. I'm convinced this is real but outside of this I had no information. The only other thing I had was... the girl! It seemed like she knew me. I don't even know if I can speak english with this muzzle and I might have lost my one chance to learn more! "Damnit!" I yelled but even though I knew what I said it didn't sound like it. I just made typical sound a pokemon would make. That just means I still would have no way to get information unless I could somehow question pokemon but I wasn't sure if I could understand them, I could absolutely speak the language of a Zorua but could I speak only to my own kind or all Pokemon like in the anime?

A nurse ran into my room startling me out of my thoughts. I crouched in the safety of my bed trying to hide or at least sink into the shadows. She turned on the lights and glared at me. I guess she didn't understand what I said and assumed I called out for no reason. She turned off the lights and trudged out angrily. Like Nurse Joy said, they would come right away if it sounded like I had a problem. I relaxed my tensed muscles and decided to try and get some good sleep.

I stood in the middle of the biggest meadow I had ever seen. I felt a calm breaze blow past me and heard the faint whistling of the wind. The grass was a flawless fresh green, and the sky had barely any clouds. There was a feeling of pure joy in my chest as I looked towards the forest. I wonder what's in there? It was so dark but the sun was shining brightly. Yet the forest didn't seem scary, it was a feeling of pure childlike wonder. I stopped as a woman yelled my name, I looked around trying to find the person that called out for me. I knew it was important but I couldn't find the source of the voice.

I woke up to the gental voice of Nurse Joy "Rise and Shine," she cooed "You have a visitor." I yawned loudly and streched out my legs and back before struggling to a sitting position. I was carefully taken out of the cage and set down on the recovery table. As I sat there still groggy and barely wake I thought back curious of my own dreams, it was a really plesant dream actually. Almost like something from a fairy tale. The magestic Meadow, the amazing grass, the pure blue sky, and the pretty forest. The excitment I felt in the dreams carried over somewhat, because even though I was groggy from being woke up, I could feel my heart racing a little. I remember a voice too but I guess that was just Joy waking me up. I felt a litle angry from being woken up from the best dream I have ever had. I silently prayed it would be a recurring dream.

As I was brought back to what was happening I was surprised to see it was the girl from yesterday, she poked her head through the door quietly as if to see if I was awake or if she should let me sleep. The girl had her hair tied up yesterday but now that she let it down I noticed she had ear length, wavey blonde hair. she had on a light coat and some casual (but still rather pretty) clothes obviously meant for the colder seasons. Was it winter outside? Maybe fall? Nurse Joy quietly left the room as the girl entered trying to hold back a smile but failing. The Girl on the other hand had a bunch of diffrent emotions on her face and I'm not sure I could place them all. Saddness? Joy? Guilt? She seemed so sure yet so conflicted as she walked up to me and pulled up a seat so she could be almost eye level.

"My name is Haley." She said softly "Do you remember me?" I'm sure she doesn't mean from last time as I was just coming out of surgery, because even then she acted like she knew me, was I her pet somehow? I slowly shook my head not wanting to take my eyes off her. My answer seemed to almost hurt her but she kept it in "You saved my life last night." she said with the same soft tone trying to avoid crying. She seemed really shaken up, I know near death expirences can really shake some people but this felt diffrent somehow. She must have seen the confusion on my face and continued "After the man ran away I saw how hurt you were and drove you here as fast as I could. You were bleeding so much, everyone took you for dead, even I thought medical help couldn't get you in time. I panicked, so I picked you up and drove you there myself." I could see her reliving that horrible moment as she was saying it, I didn't know how to feel about all this, she seemed so torn up over it but it didn't feel like it happened to me "When they first told me you were dead, I was so sure that it was me that killed you, but then you just... woke up." she laughed to herself at that part. It didn't last and she looked like she was about to cry "You got hurt really bad because of me, but I wanted you to know that I think you're amazing." she gave me a warm smile. She reached out to touch me and I ducked out of the way of her hand. That's when I saw the tears she was fighting back finally give out. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she struggled to regain composure "I-If I didn't act like such a coward right then maybe you would be fine. You wouldn't be stuck here and you wouldn't have forgotten!" I didn't want to make this poor girl cry, she thinks this is all her fault, no one could have known any of this would happen. She acted I like was the hero and all she was is a burden, that couldn't be farther from the truth! She was the real hero if she didn't take me here I would have died from any number of injuries, she's my hero. I nudged her hand with my nose inviting her to pet me, she took the invitation and slowly started stroking my head and her hand slowly travelled down my neck and back. It felt nicer than the ones Nurse Joy gave, I think she thought thought this was nice too. I could hear the sniffling slow down the more she pet me. We stayed like that for hours it felt like. She did a quiet but happy giggle "You really are something special."

After a while Nurse Joy came back and Haley stopped petting me, it was very dissapointing. "We have asked to be updated if they find any traces of a Zoroark around the city limits but we've got no signs. The poor little guy might be all alone. I know you and your father mentioned considering adopting him, have you come to a choice yet?" She asked Nurse Joy asked

"Yes!" Haley quickly replied standing out of her chair "He just too sweet to abandon! Especially after what he's been through. We actually got started preparing for him" she smiled glancing down at me. I gave a smile back, it was nice to see her happy. But the thought of being her pet was not too appealing. I would rather be allowed out into the wild so I can do what I want and maybe figure this out. She seemed nice but what was her family like, were they abussive, would they be those annoying pet owners that got too clingy, I'd be stuck in a house of who knows how many people and I would have to be obedient and do whatever any of them said. I didn't like the sound of that future. It didn't sound like a good future for me. How long does a Zorua live for anyways? If they are even remotely similar to real dogs that would mean have at least 10 good years of being a pet at least before dieing or even worse living longer than that and possibly having to get put down from an old and failing body. Living a very short and freedomless life, the thought of that unnerved me. On that same note I had no idea what powers I had or how to use them, how would I survive in the wild? My gut is telling that the pet option was the best choice but I hated that option. The more I thought about it the less it even seemed like an option.

"I couldn't agree more." Joy smiled "We will have to do some tests to make sure he is healing properly but if everything goes well he should be healed enough to leave in two weeks." So I have two weeks before I can leave and become a pet. The thought crossed my mind that during my first opportunity once I leave the Center I could bolt and never come back. But then I thought of Haley and how sad she was. I think my heart would break with that on my conscience. Haley seemed happy about the news and nearly ran out the door.

"It's a nice friend you've just made." Nurse Joy said once she was sure Haley was gone. "If you want to go with her then we need to make sure you get better." she said as she started to push the bed I sat on out the door. I was startled by the sudden movment and crouched lower to the bed so I didn't fall over. I wish I could say this was all a dream but I came to realize this was all too real. As I was carted out of my room, I was bombarded with new smells, many of them I didn't recognize and I realized just how isolated I was in my room. I saw people walking back and forth through the hallways, some nurses, some doctors, there were also people that didn't seem to work here but were either on their way to visit some unknown pokemon or leaving from their visit, some of them looked happy while others worried. That's when another question came to mind: Where are all the pokemon?

This was supposed to be a Pokemon Center yet even as I got carted through the halls to some unknown room, I didn't see any other pokemon. I tried to scan the corners and hallways as we passed hoping to get some glance of someone else. Nurse Joy thought I was getting restless "Calm down, We are almost there. You'll be out of here before you know it" I hope these next two weeks would pass quickly, as much as I wasn't eager to be someones pet, I was already getting bored of being in this hopsital.


	2. Chapter 2

I was carted into a few rooms, some of the machines they used on me I didn't recognize. I wasn't sure if they were unfamiliar to me because this was an entirlely new universe or because of my size. You'd be amazed how diffrent the world looks when you're about a foot tall. One of them looked almost like some sort of MRI machine. It was horribly loud, and I was told to stay still for it but it was harder than I first thought, my first instinct was to try and cover my ears. I kept hoping for it to end at any moment but it felt like it was taking way too long. By the end of all the tests (some of which I felt were a little invasive) I was taken back to my isolated room. Each time I was moved to another room I tried to see any Pokemon but each time I was denied and each time one of the nurses thought I was trying to get away. I won't deny I was restless, something about being hospitalized has always made me feel a need to be more active than I ever normally am. Maybe its just the lack of options I hate more than actually being bed ridden. I remembered this one time during my first year of college I got a cuncussion and broken arm in a drunken trick gone wrong, the situation wasn't too different from this barring a few obvious differences. I hated being stuck in a bed for several days staring at the same four walls and the same people, it was one of those few moments where I felt like I could run a mile with all the energy I just couldn't let out.

I had no assignments to worry about this time around and instead I would spend my time thinking about Haley, about the news of being adopted as a pet, and how I got into my situation in the first place as well as my own health considering what all has happened. I was eventually brought back to the recovery room and I waited somewhat nervously to see what would happen. Nurse Joy left to collect the results of the tests. It seemed in this world they considered Pokemon at least intelligent enough to talk to and make requests from, but I still didn't have a full grasp on what people in this world actually expected from Pokemon from the aspect of intelligence. Would she tell me of my situation after she got the results? Would she hold on to them until the next time Haley came to visit? If she did tell me would she tell comforting lies to make me feel better? The cynicisim of that train of thought left me depressed in a number of ways, would I really come into this world for no reason and die just as quickly? I suffered severe injuries, I wouldn't be surprised if under the light painkillers I had some nerve damage or torn muscles. Just how bad was the damage to my leg? Would something go horribly wrong and I might lose it? I shuddered at the thought of amputation.

My mind went back to Haley and just the pure joy she felt to know I was okay, in spite of the guilt she felt and the fear that overtook her during the whole incident all she cared about in the end was if I was okay or not. Maybe even if I lost my leg for some reason she would still be there for me. She seemed like that kind of person, I hoped she was that kind of person. She was my only connection to this world, sure the doctors and nurses kept me alive but Haley just felt more genuine to me. Nurse Joy eventually came back to my room with several papers, she habitually kept looking over each one of them with care barely lifting her eyes to look at me "You certainly are a lucky one" she smiled with a hint of relief in her voice "The stab wounds along your back missed your spine and did only superfical nerve damage. You might feel a little numb in certain places for a while but that should be temporary." She added. I wasn't sure exactly what I should be feeling from this body, so any numb feelings went by unnoticed "Your leg is healing fine also, so far their has been no signs of infection or improper healing, but we will need to keep a close eye on that. Thankfully no serious damage has been done to your lungs or heart- in spite of being poisoned." through all of this I had never been more thankful for my injuries, against all odds I had no permanent damage to my body inspite of all the injuries I had.

She set the papers in a folder and set them on a counter and pulled a bowel and a container from one of the cabinets. "It's been a long day today for you but you still haven't gotten a chance to eat since you got in here, right?" She asked me casually. I didn't really think much about it with everything going on but I was actually pretty hungry. I wasn't too pleased with the food I was given though. A bowel of dirty green and brown colored pellet dog food. She expected me to eat this? I looked up at her trying to hope against all hope that I would see her joking but she looked completely serious. I looked back down at it with a combination of embarrasment and disgust. My pride as a human being was injured at the knowledge this might be my only source of food from now on. So far all I saw was more and more downsides to this whole thing. I thought being a Pokemon would be cool for the longest time but this was a wake up call for me as I realized it wasn't all I thought it would be. Joy stood their paitently waiting form me to finish and realizing once more this is probably my food from this point forward I tried my best to accept this. I inched closer to the bowel and cautiously sniffed it a few times, I sneezed as my nose took in several different scents that I didn't recognize but still managed to smell really good. The smell didn't distract from the knowledge of what I was about to eat but it did make me feel slightly better.

I took a cautious bite out of the bowel, an action that felt weird by itself, eating only with my mouth felt wrong to me and I was physically unable to eat with my mouth closed. Chewing hard food in my muzzle, having to move it around in my mouth in such a way that my teeth were able to crush it, it tasted better than I thought it would but it still equalled an overall odd moment in my life. I ate as much of the food as I could all the while Nurse Joy waiting for me to finish. I ate as much as I could stomache and then I was asked another question "Do you think you'll be able to drink yourself, or do you need me to help you?" I might not be an expert of Veterinarian stuff but I knew what that question meant. it means "Can you handle drinking on your own you do you need to be bottle fed?" I have seen plenty of documentaries involving injured animals being fed from a bottle because they were too weak, well that's not happening! I looked away and turned my head up in defiance of the second option and I think she got the message. Eating was easy, it's the same basic concept no matter what, but drinking was a little harder as I soon found out.

I tried to drink from the bowel as I remembered my dogs doing before, but it's a little harder than it first appeared. I got more water on my face my flicking it up with my tounge than I did getting actual water in my mouth. It was nothing short of a disaster I lost my balance a few times while on three legs and a few times I accidentally stepped on the bowel, my muzzle was wet, the recovery table was wet, I think some of the floor is wet. I could see Joy trying not to laugh at how determined I was to drink from a bowel even though we both knew (some realizing it later than others) that I was physically incapable. Without uttering a word or asking permission she got a bottle ready, it looked almost exactly like a baby bottle. I could feel her massive hands carefully grabbing me holding me with my back leaning against her left arm, I was barely off the table and I could feel my tail still touch it. She held the bottle in the opposite hand and watched with deep embarrasment as it came closer. If I was human still my whole face would be bright red. With my front paws I touched the bottle and pushed it away with all my might but she was much stronger than me and was gently but persistantly pushing back, I gave up after a few minutes but made it clear I was not happy. Yet again this felt weird, without all the flexibility of a human mouth just trying to drink from this was very different. First of all I had to almost chew on the rubber bit and pull it a little each time while attempting to swallow what was drizzling out. Then not all of it would go down my mouth and I could feel some slipping out of my mouth every now and then. I put my front paws around the sides of the bottle in an attempt to keep it steady. I was a lot more thirsty than I first thought because after I got the hang of it I was chugging as much as I could, by the time I finished the whole thing I felt like I could explode from all the food I ate and the water.

I know by the human perspective it wasn't a lot and honestly when I first saw it I thought it wouldn't be enough but it was actually fairly filling. Nurse Joy pulled the empty bottle away from me and laughed a little to herself "That wasn't so bad now was it?" she smirked being quick to rub it in my face that I drank from it. I frowned and looked away not wanting to give her a response but I heard her giggle to herself again. My face felt hot from embarassment and I licked my lips trying to catch the water stuck around my mouth. I has gently put down and had a cage put over me this one felt a little bigger but she made sure to still put that bed I liked in and then she put in a litter box as well. I hate being a Pokemon right now. It made sense I don't blame that part, it's just unfamiliar to me and just imagining me using that at some point made me mad. I was told that it was getting late and she finished up what she needed to do, made sure my cage was secure and make sure I was doing fine one last time before she left for the night.

My days were pretty identical, I would be woken up whenever they needed to check up on me, every couple of days they would check on my process, and during the afternoons Haley would come visit, those were my favorite times of day. It was always similar but never exactly the same, she would come over during the time she took for lunch and just tell me about her day. She would tell me things that bothered her or made her laugh, they were all onesided conversations because of the language barrier but neither of us minded. I remember doing something similar when I was younger to my dogs, I didn't them to respond I just needed someone I could talk to. It was a great way for me to let out some stress. It was great for me too I felt like I knew more about her every day and like I knew more about the world each day. Haley was a college student, she had three friends named David, Rae and Ashely, Rae was dating some guy Haley hasn't met yet, word had spread around a little that she was a part of an attempted murder, it annoyed her whenever people brought it up and asked questions, she works at some Pastry Shop called "Harry O's" we both thought it was a weird name and apparently it's a popular Mom and Pop shop, (you don't see that too often these days) her dad has been working late nights more often lately and she has a little sister in middle school she needs to watch most nights when her dad isn't around, she saw her principle wrestle a Stantler that wandered into campus two days ago with his bare hands and won, several people got recordings of it and it's going viral, a passing wingull did a fly-by shit on David's head when her and her friends walked by the beach yesterday.

I could almost imagine myself in her place with each of her stories and sometimes I would just try to imagine the secnario playing out exactly how she described. I could almost live through her stories, and I was always happy to see her. She gave me so much genuine love and was the only person that I felt didn't simply treat me like an animal but treated me like a friend. If in spite of everything else I wouldn't mind living with her just so I could feel that sort of love each day. Though every now and then I grew nervous and anxious at the thought of a 6th grade girl living with me. I could just imagine all the grabbing and unwanted touching, constantly picking me up, probably trying to dress me up like I was a doll. The thought of it was horrible I hated when I saw younger family members doing that to the animals and their was no reasoning with those kids. It gave me doubts about how my life would be, I want to get back home but I have no idea how. The most reasonable step to getting home would be to retrace my steps, but I can't remember where I was to start with. I don't know anything outside of this Pokemon Center, all I know about the geography is that we live next to an ocean. How would I be able to accomplish anything if I just accepted life as a pet?

She came to visit me everyday for seven days and when the time came I was expecting to see her again and hear another story, I found myself hoping it would be a funny one. The pokemon world seemed to just have a way of making everyday life so much more interesting. I waited, I had no idea how long I waited I just kept looking at those two doors hoping the next person that came in would be her. I was dissapointed each time when it was just another nurse or doctor that came in to do their job, I felt a little more depressed as it went on the feeling got more overwhelming with each passing minute that she might not come. Why wasn't she coming? She's always came about this time, I memorized the habits and work of each person and even focused my hearing towards the door and heard the same set of noises each day. Their was a pattern I probably would never notice before I got sent here but it was like my own clock. At a certain point in the day I would hear a set of squeaky wheels lightly slam through a pair of doors closest to my room, not too long after a fat doctor with a balding head will come in to check up on me an my heart rate and maybe check to see if I've been trying to bite at my bandages. I never have although lately they have been getting itchy especially my broken leg. Haley would come in not too long after that fat doctor leaves, sometimes she would meet him on his way out. It's been long after that though they were already refilling my food bowel which happens a very long time after her visits. it got me thinking about my darker thoughts yesterday, where my life was going, how would I get back home and me being someones pet. The sudden feeling of loneliness emphasized all those thoughts I managed to distract myself from. I realized for the first time in a week that I was all alone here. I might not ever see my parents again, or hear my friends call me over to hang out, I'll never be able to eat my favorite foods, my cousins- my entire family was gone from me in an instant, my friends, they were all gone. I was gone, what have they bben doing? Have they noticed I'm missing yet, have they been searching for me for the last week? I didn't even have time to say goodbye to them. I could only imagine what my parents would be thinking, what they would be doing in this situation. I could almost feel and hear my mom crying in fear and worry about me, my Dad would act angry but it was his way of dealing with sadness, he would have been turning the town upside down trying to find some clue, some shred of me, probably giving the police hell all the while. Was there even any evidence back home? How would they be able to pick up a clue about me suddenly vanishing? My heart sank even further, the police have probably already declared me dead, god only knows whats happening back home and I'm stuck in a glorified vet clinic worrying about where my future owner is! I was disgusted with myself, I was acting like an animal, getting sucked into this world when I need to be coming up with a game plan and getting out of here!

I pulled myself up to my feet as quickly as I could, I took a quick survey around the room to see no one was around. I was still stuck in the cage but I needed to get out. I fumbled with the sliding lock on the door as a reached through the bars only managing to shake the door. I tucked my head down and rammed the door, I needed out! I did it several times I could feel the cage inching forward each time I rammed it. I could feel a far off ache in my broken leg but I ignored it. As I pushed myself forward again I knocked over the bowel of food, I could feel the food underfoot, the ceramic bowel loudly clanged as it rolled around in the cage, some food clattered onto the floor. None of it mattered though, I could feel it, I could tell that if I hit it a few more times, just hard enough, I'll bust it open! All I had to do once it was open was run, run till I find the exit then don't stop running until I lose them. Then I would have all the time in the world to figure this out. I'll find out where they found me and start there, their has to be some sort of clue. I'll find a way back home no matter what! I hit it so hard I could feel it lurch forward, I hit it even harder and I could feel the whole cage move, it tilted foward slowly at first but then it quickly picked up speed my footing shifted under me until I had no footing. I tumbled through the air a little. I closed my eyes and braced for impact, I felt my face harshly hit what was now the floor of the cage my weak body folded under the weight of the fall, my back and sides hurt my leg ached so badly now it was as if my very bones were shaken. I layed there in pain with nothing but anger and misery to comfort me, I am this weak injured little creature thrown into a world far away from my family. I'm covered in fur, I have only three good legs and I'm being made a pet. What life is this for me? What is there left for me to live for? I couldn't hold it back and as I layed on the floor motionless and in pain I started to cry. I cried the hardest I ever have in my life. The Nurses and Doctors heard the noises and anyone close enough to hear rushed in. I didn't even bother to look at them, I just wanted to lay here and cry. Nurse Joy was the one to pick the cage off the ground, she opened it and pulled me out quickly but carefully she held and hugged me close, I buried my head into her shoulder and continued to cry my eyes out, I wanted some real love, but all I got was a confused and worried hug. It wasn't real affection, she had no idea what I was going through. I resented her hug, I hated the pity but I didn't move, I din't have any energy to put up a fight. She sat down and said nothing for what felt like hours with me in her arms, just letting me cry. I hated that the most, she couldn't even muster a single word of comfort. I cried myself to sleep in those arms.

I woke up from a sleepless dream feeling calmer but no less depressed. I was back in my cage, everything was set up how it was only this time the cage was strapped down. I know they didn't want me hurt but I could feel myself caring less about my own health. I don't want to be a pet, I don't want to be an animal, I don't want to be here. I almost wished that I could forget about my own past just so being here wouldn't be torment. Those rouge thoughts only got me more depressed and angry. Wishing to forget my own humanity just for some comfort felt wrong, it was wrong. I'm not a Pokemon, I'm not a Zorua, I'm a human. I don't know how but somehow I will get out of this world and go back home.

Later that day the schedule I had mapped out was broken even more once more Haley didn't show up and instead Nurse Joy came in. She picked me up out of my cage and softly held me. "I thought it would be nice to get some fresh air for a change if you have so much energy." She joked with a smile but the smile seemed fake somehow. I pretty curious about what exactly she meant by "fresh air". It was something diffrent, being carried in someones arms the hole way. My leg was pretty much healed but was still considered fragile so they kept the cast on and she craddled me in her arms in a carefull manner. I had been here 9 days now ever since the second day of my stay when I offically met Haley, she had visited me for seven days, dissapeared on the 8th and now on the 9th I would be getting "Fresh Air" for the first time. Did that mean she was taking me out of the Center? What was going to happen when we got out? We never went into the lobby at the front of the Pokemon Center but I did get a passing look at it on our way through the hallways. I could make out the signature Pink and White color scheme of the Pokemon Center taking place in the room and I saw a large glowing light above the entrance in the shape of a Pokeball but the color scheme was different, their was a White circle in the Center, the top hemisphere of the pokeball was Blue and the Bottom was Pink. Maybe it was a regional variation? I actually started wondering about Pokeballs. Would I be put in one eventually? What is it like inside one? More importantly, how would this effect my mission of getting home? After a while of walking we came up to this automatic glass door that just sat at the end of the hallway, the glare of the lights made it hard to see through.

Which made me more surprised when we went through and I found something beautiful and amazing. It was a gated in park attached directly to the Pokemon Center. I saw Pokemon for the first time, walking, lounging and playing. Their were plenty of trees to keep shade, the grass was well kept their were even a few ponds scattered around. I could feel the soft, cooling, crisp breeze of fall. The trees were wonderful shades of gold, red and brown, the grass had started turning brown but still looked pretty healthy. I sniffed the air seeing if I could catch something I recognized. There were a lot of new smells that rushed through my powerful nose, the unexpected rush started to give me a small sneezing fit for a few seconds. I didn't see a large variation of Pokemon, it was mostly common stuff like Ratatta, I spotted a few Eevee but not a large number by any amount, a group Meowth on four leggs (I know that in the anime it's supposed to be typical of Meowth to be on four legs but I am just way too used to Team Rocket's Meowth) . It was mostly just typical cat and dog pokemon. Was that really all the variation their is? just typical animals as Pokemon? Not any of the more crazy looking ones?

Nurse Joy took a seat on a bench with me still in her arms. she let her arms down slowly letting go and I carefully rolled over to a position wear I could lay on her lap. I tried to sniff the air some more now that I got used to it all. I couldn't make out a lot of it and it was weird. I could smell it all at once but I could also identify each smell individually. I could still remember with my human nose smells would just sort of blend together. It was so facinatinting having such a powerful nose like this. Their were a few specific smells that picked up my interest though I couldn't figure out why just yet. They weren't sweet smelling they were... I guess the best way to describe it was "thick" kind of musty but not in a repulsive way if that makes any sense. I wanted to investigate them but as I tried to move Joy lightly touched my chest "Just sit here for a while, I don't want you to hurt that leg of yours and I'm not sure if you'll behave yourself around the other paitents." I just sat back down on her lap not stopping my investigation from her lap. Eventually the smell started to feel weaker but I could still notice it hanging in the air.

A little dissapointed but not too worried so I relaxed and just layed down on her lap, still trying to figure out what the other smells were. I knew most of the smells probably belonged to Pokemon but which ones? Eventually I ignored the smells and just took time to admire it all. I could hear all sorts of Pokemon but I couldn't make sense out of all the noise, I'm still not sure if I can talk to them, I looked at the wonderful colors of autumn, the sky was blue with patches of cloud, the sun was almost ready to start setting. "It's getting a bit chilly isn't it?" Nurse Joy asked, breaking the silence. I didn't even really notice the cold, I actually felt pretty warm, it still registered as cold to me but the thick fur kept me pretty comfortable. I wish I could answer at least one of the many questions people have asked me. I can fully admit that as a human I was a very loud guy, sometimes I caught myself yelling without realizing it. So to be forced into a language barrier like this was really annoying. I hated being inrotspective all the time, if you had to constantly live your life not being able to talk to anyone, not even sign language, and be forced to think to yourself and about your life for over a week, their aren't any sunshine or rainbows. Then again if I had to talk to Pokemon what would happen, just how smart are Pokemon, especially in this world. If I could talk to them would they figure out I was a human eventually? What would they do if they found out? What if Haley or her family noticed I wasn't acting like a Zorua?

I tried to shake those thoughts away. I looked back to the sky, it too was starting to turn gold. The Sunsets were amazing, I had always been a bigger fan of nights, and sunsets were pretty cool. To me the night is the most colorful time of day, that pure white moon, the stars that jewel the sky, the lights of houses and workplaces, the more subdued heat, and the calm peace of the outdoors. Unlike during the day where most places outside are limited to a few colors, most of which are either Blue, Green, Grey or Black. Their were so many colorful lights and objects meant to just grab your attention at night, the dark was colorful. I closed my eyes and let that cool breeze brush past my face. This is what I needed, something to distract me, clear my head. "You are the most well behaved wild Pokemon I have ever met." She sighed petting my head. That did present a problem though, I was supposed to be wild but I had been acting like a completely obedient pet this whole time. I didn't even think about it, I enjoy being pet, I've sat when Joy says sit and stayed when she tells me to stay. Am I somehow losing what little humanity I have left? How long would it be until I forget I was ever human?

Eventually it got dark enough that we had to go inside. She may have known why I beat myself up and thrown myself off the table, but she was right that I needed fresh air. Just some time in the peace of outside to clear my head. I even managed to get the most easy and peacefull sleep since I got here. I'm not sure when Haley will come back but I'm sure she has her reasons and eventually I will get back home, maybe not within the next couple weeks but eventually.

I was walking out of a cave, the light seemed so bright for several minutes. I kept staring at the sky nervously while taking careful steps out. The sky was red and looked like it was on fire almost. I was ready to leave the cave but the area beyond the cave was weird, different. It was like nothing I had seen before, I didn't even have a way to describe it. It was dark and the ground crunched and cracked under my feet like broken bones. The ground was a rusty color, it didn't look solid but it crunched like it was very solid. in the distance I saw countless tall pillars of the same color, the pillars made weird rattling noises. I took in all my courage, closed my eyes and ran out of the cave.

I woke up to the sound of doors slamming and some employee I didn't recognize wrestling with the straps that bound the cage to the table. I shot up out of my sleeping position, frantically looking around my cage as the floor of it shook slightly but persistantly, the rattling didn't calm my nerves. I wake up and have my dream ruined by this asshole. "Stop shaking everything you idiot! They are two straps it's not a complicated piece of technology!" I yelled angrily at him. I knew he couldn't understand me but hopefully I could get across the concept of pissing me off! He stopped what he was doing and looked at me like he was surprised I was mad "Yeah, you! I will reach through these bars and claw those eyebrows off if you mess with those again!" I threatened, trying my best to look angry. I wasn't sure what expressions I was supposed to have when I'm angry but it came pretty naturally. I bared my teeth and did a deep throated growl. It was at this moment another employee came in it was a Doctor he seemed older but no less capable. He was black and balding with a moustache, he wasn't fat but looked like he had a bit of a gut on him but still worked out. Looking at the two it became obvious the idiot wasn't even a nurse. What was he, an intern?

"What is with all this racket?" he yelled. "We have journalists and Reporters coming in, Joy is coming in to deal with it personally and all I hear is a Zoura yelling and growling at you!"

The intern stammered "S-sorry sir,the cage was tricky to get off and-"

"So you thought it would best to piss him off just before people show up with their cameras?"

"I'm sorry sir." he repeated

The Doctor gave out an irritated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose "Just go, I'll deal with it myself." the young man was quick to leave and the Doctor came over and undid the straps with much greater ease. He mumbled under his breath about how he convinced the boys employers to him under a friends request, and how much he regreted it. He pulled the top half off and set me of the cold table while he took the bottom half and top half of my cage and set them in a corner. He then came over the some bandages and carefully wrapped them around my torso "Sorry but this is as uch as we can do right now in terms of making you look pretty." He mentioned casually "This might feel uncomfortable, try to relax." he warned. It was hard to relax, my blood pressure was already high from that last guy, I was already pissed. I tried my best to stay still and not move for him as he wrapped the bandage around me to cover up my injuries, I've never actually seen them myself come to think of it. There was a bit of pain as they tightened up and squeezed against me. I clinched my teeth shut and forced myself to not move, it didn't do much to keep me from flinching though. I was glad when it was over, the man gave me a few casually pats on the head "Good boy." I growled in irritation hearing that phrase. I'm not a dog and I'm not your pet, I want to live the rest of my life without hearing "Good boy" adressed to me. I am not in the mood right now to be tested.

Nurse Joy came in not too long after looking pretty irritated as well "God damn leeches." She mumbled out loud to herself.

The Doctor came up and reassured her "It'll will only be a little while, Ma'am" I thought Nurses were at a station lower than a doctor why was he speaking to her like she was his boss? "They'll want to take a few pictures, get an interview and maybe get somethings on film. It'll be over before you know it."

She rested her face in the palm of her hand in a clear sign of irritation and let out an angry sigh "Yeah, we all knew we couldn't hold them off forever. Better get it over with now and not have them stalk him back to his new home." she relented "But I will be throwing people out if they don't follow the guidlines I've set. I will not allow them to stress him out or any of the other pokemon."

The Doctor rubbed the back of his head nervously "Yeah might be too late for that, Richard came in to let him out and the damn fool has already pissed him off."

it was Joy's turn to growl in anger "I'm going to have a talk with him later." she promised. Then she walked over to me she spoke softly but carried her voice with authority I had trouble ignoring "I'm going to need you to behave yourself just for now, don't scratch anyone, don't bite them and no using your powers, got it?" I nodded understanding the situation. I've never been interviewed or even been to one I've heard a lot of diffrent things but generally they sound pretty annoying. How would it be for me in this case, it was pretty apparent they were here about me, but what was I suppossed to do?

Both of my ears started twitching when I caught the noise of a large group of people approaching. Joy took a deep sigh "That must be them." she walked out through the doors to meet up with them. I tried to listen in but their was too much chatter and yelling to make out any one voice. Then the doors opened Joy walked in with two camera man and some lady dressed pretty well in a burgundy buissness dress and a microphone in hand. The woman introduced herself and Nurse Joy with so much fake happiness you'd expect from a new reporter and got prepaired to ask Nurse Joy some questions, all the while one of the camera men video taped it. I didn't pay much attention to that because the other one practically came rushing up to me, it scared me so much I had to hold back from instinctivly smacking that huge camera. He moved the camera from side to side trying to get diffrent angles on me, and my head followed the camera curious about what exactly he was trying to see.

"Hey," the camera man spoke up after a while directing himself to the Doctor that stood in a corner watching me "Do you think we can take those bandages off so we can see the rest of his injuries? It'd really help illustrate to the viewer how much of a sacrifice he made for the girl. People love that stuff."

The Doctor didn't move from his spot he crossed his arms and gave him his answer "No, he has a hole in his ear, and a broken leg you can clearly see and he's been in the emergency section of the Pokemon Center recovering. You have all the proof that you need."

The camera man looked upset and turned his attention back to me, I had only barely been paying attention. My gaze had been fixated on this weird part of the camera. It was sort of pill shaped and black, fuzzy and pretty big. It sat at the front of the camera just above the lens. I tried reaching for it but the man pulled the camera away "Well could you at least make it say something, a bark, a whine, I'd settle for a growl." I swiped at it again hoping to catch him off guard, he still pulled it away in time.

"He's a wild Pokemon, he doesn't take orders. You are lucky he's staying in one place. He's tried a few times to run around since he's been here." I tried for both paws, my paws grabbed both sides of the lens. Yes, I tricked him! I tried pulling the camera closer to me I wanted to find out what that thing was. He was trying to pull it away. I could feel my claws scraping the plastic of the camera as I struggled to hold on. I tried to keep pulling it down but he started to lift it up. He was stronger than me, but I won't accept defeat! I let him pull me up to my one good back leg and I quickly moved my paws upwards so I could wrap my front legs around the lens and get a good grip. I was practically hugging the camera trying to hold on and I tried to make myself heavier and weigh him down.

"Come on man, let go." he quietly begged me

"No!" I replied. I could hear the Doctor laughing but he stood their and did nothing. I could feel his grip loosening and him struggling to hold on and pull it away, I was winning! I managed to pull it down enough that I got eye level with the fuzzy thing. I sniffed it, it had a bunch of weird smells, it smelled dirty, and old, it had a light mildew smell to it, but it also smelled like plastic, and sweat. I saw out of the corner of my eye one of the camera guy's hands reached for me. I quickly grabbed the fuzzy thing and gave it two quick pulls before it came off. I was thrown off balance from the sudden release and the man moved his hand out of the way in surprise. I spun on my one back paw and landed with my two front paws touching the solid floor of the table and I was now facing away from the camera man.

"That's my microphone you jerk!" he yelled at me. He quickly put the camera down and tried reaching for me. I quickly ran as fast as I could on three legs till I got out of his reach never letting go of my prize. He ran over to the other end where he could reach me, I scooted away from him and tucked myself low to the table and held it close to me. He was trying to steal it from me when I won it fair and square. I let out a small growl to tell him I wasn't letting go. Then Nurse Joy came over with the lady and the other camera man, Joy gave me a stern look and grabbed the thing that I was holding onto.

"Let go of it so we can give it back." it wasn't a request, it was an order. Reluctantly I let go, I felt a little embarrassed over the whole thing, acting like that. The rest of the other reporters took their turns coming in, most of them were fairly indifferent of me at best and at worst barely thought of me as a living creature at all. Asking me to do stupid things, wanting a look at my wounds, and reffering to me as an "it" instead of "He" like the staff did. I entertained myself through most of it being deliberatly difficult with them, and that little episode I had gave me a fun idea, I started messing with their equipment speciffically things that actually interested me. I tugged and chewed on a microphone cord that wandered onto the table at one point until they made me let go. I ignored a reporter that was standing next to the table no doubt talking about me but I didn't care, I saw a shiny new pair of sunglasses on her head I wanted a look at. I stood up and leaned myself against her I reached for them but she was too tall, so I started scrapping her sleeve trying to get her to bend down a little or at least look down.

This one was cool under pressure and just laughed and made a few jokes, I respected that so I sat back down and behaved for her. I think my best moment during this whole headache was this one particular asshole of a reporter that insulted while off camera me like I wouldn't hear, talking about about how I probably was infested with fleas, talking about me looking mangey, and how it's a miracle they kept me under control. No one controls me, and no one calls me a mangey mutt. "I'll show you a dirty dog." I growled to myself. Thankfully this had been the last one and overall they all lasted hours. When the camera came on the old reporter put on his happiest act like everything he said just washed away. He decided it would be a good idea to hold me and pretend we were pals, I acted friendly towards him as I relieved myself in his arms, he didn't notice until halfway through and I continued acting like nothing happened. I forced my tail to wag, put on a happy face I even went the extra mile and licked the old farts face. I hadn't a chance to pee since last night so I came loaded.

Being an animal had very clear downsides, being able to pee on people you don't like and have people think it's both adorable and funny? That is the greatest blessing this has given me. Even better was that he tried to play it off as something he thought was funny too. I could feel his hatred growing but I never dropped my innocent look. I acted oblivious to the knowledge of doing anything wrong, and just kept up the "happy little puppy" act.

After everything was said and done Nurse Joy stared me down with a piercing gaze. It was only at this moment I realized I might be in trouble. I gave a nervous little snicker and her expression seemed to melt "Well... I guess you did do what I told you to and not attack anyone." she relented. "Do me a favor though and don't make a habit of causing trouble, okay?" she said ruffling the fur on my head before walking out.

"Good work with that last one. Asshole deserved it, but don't tell anyone I said that." he chuckled and pet me. He set up my cage again and made sure I had food and water. I went to sleep peacfully that night. I had gotten through 10 days in this place in 4 more days I would be out of here. I almost couldn't wait to leave. I want to get my bearings on this new world and see what I had to work with. "Four more days." I muttered to myself while I curled up in my bed "Let's see what this world has for me."


	3. Chapter 3

It was 2 days left now, while I was still unhappy about being adopted with the intent of me being owned by someone else, I was almost excited to leave. I couldn't even stay still in my cage anymore and I paced hopping along with only three legs. I was curious when they were going to take the cast off. I was almost certain it was healed by now but I didn't want to risk it by putting pressure on it. I paced thinking about what I was going to see, what was this house even going to look like, what was the layout of the neighborhood, what sort of rules would they have for pets, was their a way I could I sneak out, if their was could I come back the same way, are my senses of direction better as a Zorua or the same as always. "Meh!" I whined impatiently "I can't stand this place for much longer." I whined to no one. I was getting stir crazy being couped up in this building, seeing the same set of people and the same set of rooms. Nurse Joy was nice, like really nice, but she was very professional about it all. I got her to crack a few times, to give a real smile but I wanted to see what a Haley's family would be like towards me. If I was going to be living with them to any capacity then I hoped they were nice. I'm not expecting a Full House kind of family but I want them to be a nice sort of people.

Then for the first time in a while, Haley walked in. I was surprised to see her but it was also good to see her. She opened up the door and pulled me a little while my one good back leg hopped on the table. She gave me one big stroke from the back of my head down to my tail, it was gentle but I was stretching under the feeling of her petting me. Still weird to think about being pet as enjoyable but I can't deny that when someone is good at it, it feels amazing. She laughed to herself seeing my reaction and kept doing it, I streched further and further forward each time trying to get each one to last just a little longer, then lay down and just let her pet the back of my head. "You know it's only just a few more days till you can leave right?" She asked with a grin. I smiled back and yipped in response. I learned a little trick to conpensate for them not being able to understand me, little yips, grunts and growls that literally meant nothing and were just sound, it was enough to let people know what I was trying to tell them, or at least it sometimes did. It's amazing what sounds and context can do to bridge a language. I wonder how many times my dogs were bull shitting me just to see what I would do for them.

"Everyone is really excited to meet you. I still haven't told Jordan about you yet. I want you to be a surprise. She is going to freak out when she finds out you're living with us." she laughed to herself. Jordan was her little sister, I wasn't really sold on her. I hated the idea of a hyper, over loving child following me around. "What's wrong?" she asked. I guess I let my worry slip out long enough for her to catch it. I pressed my face against her hand trying to let her know that nothing was wrong and comfort her. "I missed you too." she smiled "Sorry I haven't shown up in a few days, the police thought they caught a lead and needed to ask me some more questions, then I had to watch Jordan and..." she stopped and hesitated for a moment "It feels so wrong to say I was too busy to visit, sorry little guy." she ruffled the fur on my head playfully. I can only imagine what she's been going through after all this. I may have almost died but I barely remember any of that. She on the other hand remembers that moment very clearly. People are still asking her about it too. "Oh!" she exclaimed suddenly "I still haven't thought of a name for you." she thought out loud.

That's right, up until now everyone has been calling me "Zorua" or "Him" no one knows my name. I wouldn't even have able to communicate it to anyone. It felt degrading to realize that my name falls onto someone that barely knows me. I'd be given a diffrent name that everyone would call me by. She tried out a few names "Conner? You know because Zorua trick people...no It sounds like a cheap name, that's almost like being named 'Lier'." she dismissed to herself "Um, what about something simple... like Max" she shook her head again "It's was too simple. If you're going to have a new name I wanted it to have a good ring to it. "Red?" no "Black?"... that somehow seems worse." she thought to herself "Ugh, this is harder than I thought it would be." She admitted "It needs to be something that relates to you, you need a name that really works."

I laughed to myself "In that case how about Lucky?" really, with everything that's happened to me I can't tell if I am the luckiest person in the universe or the most unlucky.

"Hmm, I wish I could talk to Pokemon at times like these. Then you could probably just tell me." she thought to herself, crossing her arms in thought. "We still have time I guess." she said giving up on names for now. "So do you want to know something funny that happened a few days ago?" I cheered happily and listened closely as she gently stroked my back and told her story. "So a few days back, I saw this flock of Murkrow that live in our neighborhood. Two of them split off from the group and start circling this family's house. They looked like they were searching for something." She explained "I guess they were having some cook out because next thing I know they both swoop down behind this family's house and try to fly off with some of their food. The dad owned a Vaporeon and both of them were chasing these two around the house. The Murkrow couldn't fly very far because the Vaporeon kept shooting water at them but stayed far enough from them. Eventually the two pokemon give up and let the food go. The best part was that both the Vaporeon and the dad were yelling at the crows as they left, he was saying stuff like "Don't steal from us again or we won't miss!" and stuff like that." She said trying her best "Man Voice" but only managed to sound stupid. I snickered at her stupid impression. She laughed a little to herself as well "I'll admit it wasn't my best story, but I'm glad you like it. You should see those Murkrow sometime though. They always cause trouble, nothing gets boring with them." I think it would be pretty cool to see more Pokemon, maybe see them close up even. I can only imagine what a Flesh and Blood Murkrow looks like, but they might also notice I'm not a Zorua. I should probably try to keep at least a little distance.

She talked with me for a while telling me more things about what she's been up to, where she's been. It was nice to have these moments back. Eventually it had to end and the Doctor that was with Nurse Joy when the reoprters came walked in instead of the usual guy that came in as she was getting ready to leave "How's Peebody doing?" he joked. Haley stopped moving and I could see her think on that name for a while, she looked back at me then lightly smiled and shook her head.

The Doctor, who's named I learned was Doctor Murphy and no the irony was not lost on me, was holding some papers from the last checkup I had. He stopped Haley from leaving and said he had some news on me. "His healing is going wonderfully, he'll need to keep those stitches for a while but we should be able to give you an exact time frame on the day he leaves, we will also be taking off that cast of his tomorrow. His leg is as good as new." I tuned out after that, I was glad to finally be rid of this heavy, itchy cast.

I found it hard to get sleep that night. I wanted so badly to get out of here, there are thing I want to see, but their were many things I wasn't looking forward to. Being a pet was the worst thing I could think of being next to being eaten by another Pokemon. The wild would have been rough no doubt but was being physical property to someone else better? I would have to be obedient, eat whatever they told me to eat, being touched constantly, loud children, being stuck inside until they felt like letting me out and even then their would probably be restrictions. I didn't even know how long a Zorua lives. For all I know I would probably have only 5 years worth of life left. Then their was the worry of being found out. I didn't know the first thing about being a Pokemon, I didn't even know how to use my powers. When I was healed fully I might probably have to battle and what would they think if when that time comes and I can't do anything? I tried to push those thoughts back and get some sleep but it was hard.

Even though I did manage to get sleep I woke up still feeling tired. I barely had enough of a mind to think about what was happening as the put me on some table with wheels or something. I was carted off into a room I didn't recognize I was struggling to keep my eyes open during the most of the trip, the smell of medicene and the the clanking of metal started to wake me up. Some Doctors were puting stuff together on a counter on the opposite side of the room and the thing I was sat on this cold metal table. I shivered a little not expecting the table to be so cool. They carried a small tray of objects over and set them on the table a fair distance from me. My eyes widened as I saw what the objects were, several sharp tools, including a a small mortorized hand saw and a needle filled with an unknown drug. My heart started to race and I was no longer tired. I had a general fear of doctors but needles scarred me to death, a saw did not make me feel anymore comfortable.

"This is going to make you calm down so we can get it off of you." The female doctor explained showing me the needle. They were going to tranq me for this?! I made no respones and tried to stand up but one of them grabbed my back when I wasn't looking to keep me still. I started to panic, I flailed under his hold trying to wiggle free but I didn't move even an inch from under his hand. They were going to use a SAW on me while I was out cold! I yelled for help, but I got another hand to pin me down. I felt them pinch some skin on the back of my neck, my thoughts started to slow down, I could feel the panic start to just slip away, I stopped moving, the room got quietand it wouldn't stop moving, I'm not sure if they let go of me or not, it probably doesn't matter I'm too tired to worry about their problems, my eyes got heavy and it felt good to close them.

When I came out of my forced sleep, I spent some time wondering where I was. My Mind is still sluggish and my body felt numb. It took more effort than it should to keep my eyes open, the first thing I noticed was cage bars. Did they put me back while I was out? I tried to move my legs but I had almost no feeling in them and I wasn't sure if they did anything or if they were just hanging uselesslly by my side. After a few moments of trying to do something, I gave up and closed my eyes again finding it easier to sleep than to move.

I woke up once more this time feeling a well rested and saw Nurse Joy fixing things up on a counter and putting things up. I was indeed back in my own room. I sat up and let out a loud yawn that ended up getting her attention. "Well, you must have been tired." She smiled "You've slept half the day away, we knew you'd panic and we needed you to stay still but I wasn't expecting you to sleep that long." I understood the idea behind it but it still made me mad. They thought I would freak out because I was a wild pokemon and sharp objects combined with loud noises might make me want to run. My anger took on a bit of embarrasment when I realized I would have panicked regardless... and I did panic. They had to hold me down just to give me that shot. I hate needles so much! What logic is there in willingly letting people you don't know stab you with a piece of metal as fragile as a toothpick? I hope I won't need to be reintroduced to needles for a long time. I shivered just at the thought of getting anymore.

She explained to me that Haley came to visit again but I slept through it. I was dissapointed that I slept through her visit but I'd see her tomorrow. It would be the day she takes me away from here and bring me to her home... to be her pet. After all this time it's still so hard to accept it. As a human I saw nothing wrong with taking an animal to live with you, but now I was on the recieving end of that relationship. Being taken away from the only life I've known to people I barely know and live with them, my every move being restricted an regulated right down to what I eat and when. I don't want this life.

I just sat there in my bed after everyone had left. I still had energy to spare, and with the big day nearly here, I started to worry again. Not just about what tomorrow would entail for the remainder of my life here. but for how my life got started here. After spending all this time recovering, I had hoped that whatever parts of my memory that was lost would return but it didn't. It made no sense to me, I could remember my human life very clearly, I can remember my likes and my fears, everything about my past is still intact so then why can't I remember how I got here? It was like in between the splits of a second I was in my world and then I got thrown into this one. I fell asleep and then I woke up, but not in the same place I fell asleep and my head was swimming from being attacked, but I don't even remember getting attacked it just... sort of happened.

I remember a story I saw on the internet years ago I thought was stupid but now I'm not so sure. It was one of the "True story supernatural mysteries" sort of things. Some family saw their dad doing yard work on their farm and then the dad just dissapeared, he didn't vanish in a flash of light, their was no sound, nothing left behind, just gone. The family claimed that same day when they were trying to get sleep they could all swear they heard the dad yelling for help. It sounded so stupid after all people don't just vanish off the face of the earth for no reason, it just wasn't logical, you don't just slip between the fabric of the universe. As impossible as it sounded, this was equally impossible and I wondered if the same thing happened to me and I just fell through some hole I didn't notice.

I feel like if I was on some mission from entites of another universe their would be something to point me in a direction or something to tell me this wasn't an accident. I have been met with silence save for the Pokemon Center staff and as far as they are concerned I'm not human. Was this all really just an accident? That I'm not even suppossed to be here? By sheer bad luck I'm suddenly a Pokemon forced to play pet to people I don't know and be constantly dehumanized by everyone I meet? That was all just a draw of the cards and nothing else?

I went to a laying position trying to go to sleep, trying to block out all these thoughts. They made me feel so depressed during a time I felt I should be excited for. I curled into a ball bringing my tail up to my face and catching a good smell of myself, I realized I never actually caught my own scent. Like quite a few things their were smells I didn't recognize, but a few of them I did notice. Their was a distinct smell of dirt, I could also smell pine trees, from those two smells I could easily put together that at some point I came from a forest but the first thing I can remember is being in some place with a lot of buildings, I could remember glass shattering and several metal things falling. When was I in a forest? Was that my entry point? I smelled like nature and I couldn't remember when exactly I got here, I must have come here in this form while in a forest and managed to find my way into the city. Under the circumstances I would have tried to find someone who could help me, and at some point I found a city, and for some reason I got poisoned. I was a little annoyed realizing that I still had no real answers, but also felt a little proud I was figuring out how to properly use this nose and managed to find one piece of the puzzle.

I tried to see if their were any other smells I could figure out, their were two others that stuck out to me but I couldn't figure out. One was that musky smell I remembered smelling when Joy took me outside. Was that smell another Zorua? They smelled really similar but... something was slightly different about it compared to the other smell. Their was another smell that was familiar but I didn't know why. I became dissapointed that I still hadn't figured out anything more but I guess something is better than nothing. I closed my eyes trying to hold off on all the thinking so I can get some rest.

I fell asleep at some point, I don't even remember falling asleep, but I was woken up by one of the nurses and set out on the table. My heart was racing with anticipation and fear. Fear of what the future would bring, and anticipation for seeing the world beyond these walls. I have been told stories of Pokemon and their interactions with other people for two weeks now. It got me excited to see them for myself, I always wanted to live in a world where Pokemon were real, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind but I was excited to see the regardless. I no longer had to linger here and be constantly monitored, but I would be owned by another person and be expected to follow their rules, eat what they give me and be forced to cuddle with them when ever they wanted.

I waited for the moment to come and I didn't have to wait long. Either I was asleep longer than I thought or Haley had come early. Nurse Joy had explained a few things to her about me to make sure I would heal fast and properly. I was to have minimal physical activity which meant no letting me outside for about four weeks, they didn't want my wounds to get dirty or split open since they weren't done healing yet. Yet more restrictions place on me, at least I would have more room in the house than I did here but I wanted to get out and run around but I wasn't allowed to. Their were more things they talked about but I tuned them out not really wanting to dampen this moment for myself I amused myself playing with my own tail. Trying to pull it towards the front and occassionally having it slip through my paws, I managed to grab it in my mouth but would just get nothing but fur in my mouth that too would slip from my grip. I pushed my tounge in and out scrapping it against my teeth trying to spit it out the clumps of fur I accidentally pulled out of my tail. Shedding was a new thing for me, having stray clumps of dead fur was a little annoying.

My improvised game was cut short by them putting me on the floor. I was a little surprised but they explained that they wanted me to walk out with Haley. I guess it was traditional to have Pokemon walk out with their masters as a sign that they are healthy enough to leave. I was a little scared too, the sudden realization of how small I was compared to everyone else itself was scary, I didn't even make it to anyones knees, but needing to walk to the exit was surprisingly scary too, I haven't actually walked this whole time and at best I hobbled a few feet but that wasn't walking that was more or less just hopping. Haley waited for me at the exit of the room waiting for me, she was barely containing a smile as she waited for me, I looked at the other Pokemon center members that had gathered in the room, all of the looked at me expectantly and happily. Haley noticed my hesitation and called out to me "Come on, lets go home." she encouraged bending down with her arms outstreched for me. I took a few careful and clumsy steps putting on paw after another. It felt awkward and kinda embarrasing to be walking on four legs. It felt natural but that only made it weirder, the floor looks like it would have been cold but I barely felt it. It made me nervous, I wasn't sure if the pads of my feet were suppossed to have feeling in them, I was so used to the sensitivity of human feet and these thick rough pads on my paws barely let me notice the ground. With these I might not care as much walking in dirt or getting my feet wet.

I slowly made my way to her and upon reaching her she pet my head a little with a "Good boy." thrown in. I grumbled to myself hating those two words. She opened the door and waited for me to walk through I walked with her moreso trying to follow her without falling behind rather than try to get to the exit, I still was barely comfortable with walking and I was so small that her giant steps put her a good pace behind ahead of me. She noticed I was falling behind and slowed down. Every now and then people would stop to look at the two of us as we walked by some of the staff and some were normal people. The normal people seemed more surprised than the staff but some of them seemed surprised too. What was so shocking? This was normal wasn't it?

We made it to the lobby and I took a good look at it all, the walls had pink wall paper and the room was well lit giving the walls an even brighter, friendlier feel than they already had. There was a counter that sat directly from the exit that was a clean pure white, with a line of blue lights going around the edge of the counter, I couldn't see what was on the counters though but I assumed it was things typical of any work space, probably computers and things like that. I saw a few strangers that looked like normal people coming to visit for various reasons. I even saw a few little kids, they were closer to my size but still looked unsettlingly big. I found myself walking closer to Haley as more and more eyes were falling on me. The parents looked concerned but the children wanted to run over to me and they were all stopped by the adults. A few of the kids whined and argued with them and asked why they couldn't pet me, most the parents were a lot quieter and whispered to them their answers. I only picked up a few responses from those closer for me to hear or were too loud.

"They are too dangerous to play with." or "It will make bad things happen." were two that stook out to me. I wasn't dangerous, I still had bandages and I was walking right next to a human. If I was going to hurt someone I could have done it by now. I felt a little offended by their fear, yet grateful that no one would touch me at the same time. It was terrifying to be close to other people, I felt so small and weak next to them and I was scared they would find out I wasn't a Zorua. I was still nervous of Haley finding out, I found myself several times looking up at her to see if their was any change in expression with her but it was always the same set of expressions. When she was walking I would see her looking off lost in thought and sometimes she would catch me looking at her and she would give a light smile. I wondered what she was thinking about, did she notice all the reactions we were getting too?

As we walked out I could see the morning sun barely hanging in the sky and was once again welcomed with a cool breeze and crisp air. I took a look back standing right on the barrier of the door back into the center I had spent two weeks in. I felt a strange as I stood there hesitating like leaving was me signing some unseen contract. I never thought leaving this place would feel so... offical. I would leave this place and start this new life I was introduced to, with so many questions still lingering how would this life of mine play out? How would I find my way back home? Would I ever get home? I thought back to that moment when the relization came to me that I was all alone, all those thoughts and worries of never seeing my family. I saw Nurse Joy come into the lobby and watched me from the other end of the room. She smiled happily like she was watching something truly special, I wondered if she felt this happy with every Pokemon that got to walk through those doors.

Her life was so simple and she had all the answers she needed. She was a vet for Pokemon, she took care of Pokemon, saving those she can and making those she can't a fighting chance. She came to work and then left when she no longer had to be there. I envied that simplicity right now. I took a deep breath and left hearing those automatic doors close softly behind me. I expected the concrete to be rough and cold but I felt neither. The pads of my feet cushioned whatever I should have felt. I followed her through a few lanes filled with titanic cars. I could smell a faint smell of fuel walking through the parking lot. It's weird how as a fox the whole world told stories in ways I would have never noticed. So many smells from so many things and I barely understood what even a fraction of them meant.

I came up to her car and it seemed old and used but well kept, it was a bright red and had the brand of the car it was low on the door of the car. It was a name I didn't recognize, but I guess that made sense since I was in another world. It was odd to be in a world so foreign to what I was used to and yet so similar that I could almost mistake it for my own. It's like I started my life over. My thoughts were brought back when Haley put down a pet carrier down on the ground and opened it up. "Come on, boy." she said offering the brand new cage. I was shocked, I left one cage for another and she saw nothing wrong with it. I was having almost no freedom in any of this.

I pouted and turned my back to her, I wasn't going into another cage. "Please, this is just to keep you safe for the ride." she explained. I sat down and huffed loudly not looking back at her. She tried begging me and promising that I wouldn't be stuck in there but I refused to be in another one. She tried picking me up and setting the carrier vertical to drop me in I spred out my hind legs and set them on the edges to keep myself from falling in. She tried pushing down but I kept pushing back refusing to give in to her will. It was really hard, she's stronger than me and I still felt like she was holding back. Eventually she gave up that plan and set me back down along with the carrier. "Please," she said once more, I refused to look at her "We won't leave here until you get in." she threatened like a parent scolding her child. I turned back to her wanting to see if she was bluffing. She looked very serious and gave me a scolding look that made me uncomfortable. "I promise you, this will only be for the ride home. It's just to keep you safe." she repeated not dropping the tone. As if to prove her point she buckled the carrier down to the back seat. Reluctantly I agreed and she helped me into the carrier and latched the door closed and closed the car door. I tried to peak through the holes on the side of the carrier. The angle this was set in wasn't the best but I did get a decent look into her car through the tiny holes in the side.

The inside seemed just as old as outside but it was well kept and cleaned. I always remembered my car was a horrible mess, but she seemed to be very clean and orderly with her stuff. I tried to look through the bars of my door to see through the window as we started to drive off but the angle I got only let me see street lights and signs as we drove past. I struggled to stand up as we travelled, I always thought it was weird how dogs seemed to have trouble standing up in a car. The movments she took felt like the whole car was shaking, I stumbled back and forth trying to keep my balance before I decided to lay down. I noticed their were other scents in the carrier, one scent was similar to mine but I couldn't figure out the meaning. Was this the smell of a Zorua or did it mean something else? The other scent was very diffrent and was even more confusing it seemed familiar but I couldn't think of what it could have been now. Whenever we stopped she would reach back to stick her fingers through the holes to pet me and would sometimes ask how I was holding up. I would put my head against her wiggling fingers and she would scratch my head- or she would try to she usually would just touch my ears or mess with the big tuff of hair on my head instead of actually touching my head. I was very dissapointed about this.

Then came the moment, the car did a sudden turn and then stopped. I saw Haley get out of the car and walk around to open the back door. I could feel my carrier be picked up and then being set down on the concrete as she bent down to open it up and just waited for me to come out. I stood up and stayed still for a minute my ears really foucsed on my new surroundings, I couldn't hear the sound of cars like I did during our drive, I could hear faint rustling of leaves from the wind but it was mostly silent. I took a few cautious steps towards the exit and sniffed the air, it was cleaner but I could still smell car fuel. I stepped out fully and was surprised by the house in front of me. Even though I was small I was willing to bet that even if I was big the house would look large. It was a nice looking two story house but it wasn't an average house this house looked expensive. It was sorrounded by a black cast iron fence with a brick base I couldn't see past the base very well since it was almost as tall as me but the length of the fence told me that they had a large yard. Their was a gate taller than Haley that stood between the sidewalk and the walkway to the house. I looked down both ends of the street and their was a bunch of similar looking houses lining the street. I would have never guessed she lived in a rich neighborhood, she never mentioned that. They weren't mansions by any means but this was easily upper middle class at least. I was shaken out of my awe when I heard the car door slam shut behind me. I looked behind me and saw Haley walk past me with a smile on her face as she opened the gate and waited for me to walk in "Come on, let's see your new home."


	4. Chapter 4

Haley craddled me in her arms with my back leaning against her arms as we walked past the porch and through the front door. I squirmed a little while she held me like that, it wasn't exactly a comfortable position to lay in for me. She bent down and let me roll off so I could stand while she closed the door. The inside was decorated fairly modestly compared to how the outside looked but it was still a very nice house. The floor near the entrance was wooden but as I looked down the hall into what I assumed was the living room, the next room looked fully carpeted. The walls were covered in plaques, paintings and a mirror just above the small table that had a potted plant on it. The air smelled friendly, the area specifically had a wide number of smells probably from people always coming in and out, the only one I could identify was Haley but I did pick up the other two smells from the carrier. I was a little nervous and more than a little intimidated by the place. Everything was so big compared to me, I knew nothing about this place and almost nothing about the people that lived here. She hung her coat on the rack by the door "Dad, I'm back!" she yelled

"Hold on a minute! I'm coming down!" he hastily returned from the second floor. I heard light thumping somewhere upstairs and then heard him coming down some unseen stairs in the next room. I saw the police officer I remembered meeting on my first day walk quickly around the corner with a warm smile on his face,this was something else she never told me, he looked more cleaned up than when I first saw him. He had a clean shave, he looked like he had more energy, and he wore a white tank top shirt, with his blue police pants still on and no shoes. I wasn't sure if he was going to work or just got off. What got my attention more was the Growlithe that walked confidently next to him. It was at least twice my size, he looked very muscular and powerful, it had a very confident look like it never doubted a thing, yet in spite of his powerful presence he looked very clean and well groomed. I found it jarring that this powerful beast managed to look like it never fought yet I got this feeling like he had been in plenty. It was something I couldn't place but he held a certain force to him that told me that he could crush me in an instant.

The father gave Haley a warm hug "Did everything go well?" he asked

"Yeah, they had a few things to warn me about but it's nothing too major." she dismissed

He breathed a happy sigh "Well thats good to hear, be sure to tell me all about it later, 'kay? Where is the little guy anyways?" he asked looking around. Haley startted to quickly look around before noticing I was hiding behind her legs. The man was intimidating enough but that Growlithe looked dangerous. "There's our little hero." he said as I was picked up by the man and held me in front of him. I was still shaking and my tail instinctivly went up to cover my belly he gave a sympathetic smile "Aw come on, don't be scared, no one's going to hurt you." he pulled me in close into what seemed almost like a hug and was carefully petting the back of my head. My heart rate started to calm down but I was still nervous and didn't dare move. I tried smelling him thinking they were expecting that, most people I knew would let a nervous dog smell them before doing anything else. If I did that he might let me go, thinking I was calm. I sniffed the back of his neck, I could smell a mixture of cologne, and the sweat it was trying to cover but he also somehow smelled friendly. He was big and scary looking but I felt like I could trust him at least a little. I lay my head on his shoulder feeling a little more relaxed "Look at that," he laughed with some pride in his voice "he's already pretty friendly, and you kept telling me he was a trouble maker! I guess I'm the one who should be teaching those classes at school then!" he laughed.

"That's weird," she commented with genuine suprise "They kept saying he hated people he didn't know handeling him." she explained

"Ah, those eggheads might know how to reset bones and cure sickness but they know nothing about actually dealing with pokemon." he dismissed. "They pick up on other peoples emotions and actions, if you're confident, friendly, and patient you've already won half the battle. People getting angry or acting skittish just confuses them or gets them worried, then you got a fighter on your hands." He carfully set me back on the floor and ruffled the fur on my head. I hated that they keep talking about me like I wasn't human but at the same time I could understand why. Still didn't stop it from being annoying. I think I should be safe here, but I still can't let my guard down, as far as I know they still think I'm a pokemon and I can't let them doubt that. The Dad feels like somone I can trust, he doesn't smell dangerous and the way he acts is very inviting, he doesn't really seem as tough or as strict as I imagined having a policeman as a father would be. He's obviously the head of the house so it would probably be in my best intrest to keep him happy.

I glanced over to my side and saw Growlithe sitting next to his master looking at me. I tried to avoid eye contact with him, the humans might not notice anything weird but this was a flesh and blood pokemon if anyone would notice anything out of the ordinary it's him. I'll need to watch where I step around him until I get a grasp on things. After a while of Haley and her Dad talking about their plans for the day, her dad mentioned he was going to catch some sleep and went up stairs. Haley bent down and pet me gently on my head "I have some running around I need to do, so you be good while I'm gone okay?" I was a little nervous being left alone in this house with the Growlithe but I agreed anyways. I didn't think I'd be exposed to other pokemon so soon. She looked over at the growlithe "Blaze, watch him and show him around okay? You'll be in charge of making sure he's comfortable while we're gone, got it?" the growlithe barked in confirmation. I sat and watched as she left, it was horrible to see her go and I kept hoping she would come back at any moment. I pulled myself away from the direction of the door and saw the growlithe just sitting there patiently watching me.

When he noticed I turned around he got up and started walking towards me, I scooted myself back a few steps trying to keep my distance from the lumbering powerhouse. I crouched down to the ground, my heart was racing again and I could feel myself trembling. He stopped and silently looked at me with a mixture of dissapointment and confusion then just sat back down. The more he looked at me the more fear I felt traveling up my spine, I brought my tail around and wrapped it tightly around my body and tried my best to get as small as possible as if I would suddenly dissapear and he would leave me alone. After what felt like hours but was probably only a couple minutes he decided to speak up "Hey there." he spoke. It was weird, I knew I was only hearing him say "Growlithe" but I understood the words as if it was perfect english. It was like two languages playing side by side. His voice itself was deep and gruff but it held this air of kindness to it.

I looked up at him not daring to move from my position on the floor "H-hello" I hated my voice, mine was higher pitched and it was like I was a child compared to him.

He did a slight jump of joy and his tail started wagging "Alright! I was begining to worry you were mute." he smiled "How is someone as timid as you ever going to cause trouble?" he joked but I stayed low to the floor not sharing in his enthusiasim, which seemed to dampen his mood. His smile dissapeared and he sat back down "You need to lighten up a little." He muttered under his breath. I watched closely as he stared at me with thought and then he looked at the area around us. He then went low to the ground and rested on his stomach till we were at eye level with each other "My name is Blaze," he started with a more calm, sincere tone that took me by surprise. He looked very serious but held a very gentle note to it all. "I'm here to make sure you are safe, Haley trusts me to take care of you, don't you trust Haley?" I nodded slowly realizing that I was being stupid, she wouldn't leave me with something dangerous, I stood up and he pulled himself up. My legs still felt weak and my heart was racing but I could feel them both calming down, I knew he was supposed to be safe but it didn't stop me from being uneasy. "Come on," He started "Their are a few things I want to tell you and you also need to learn your way around." he gave a friendly smile and started leading me. As scary and intimidating as he looked he was actually pretty gentle, was he really a police dog? Either way unlike me he is a born and raised pokemon, it might be harder to trick him than it was for the humans. I would have to play this by ear and be careful. I tried to copy the way walked, I held my head up high and proud like his and took slightly larger steps, trying to mimic his confident stride. I thought for a moment I heard him laugh to himself but didn't say anything.

He walked down to the end of the hallway and led me into the carpetted room I noticed. The carpet was a beige color and the room had a large couch lining the right wall. On the left was a fireplace that was covered by a large grate the area around the fireplace was brick and their was a large Flat Screen that was hung a good distance above the fireplace and was angled downwards in such a way that anyone on the couch or sitting on the ground could watch. Their was a set of large windows that opened up to view the back yard with a leather recliner chair situated right in the middle of the windows. I also noticed a bookshelf sitting right near the entrance to another room on the left side of the room. "This is the Living Room, we are allowed to be in here at any point." He explained "We are not allowed to be on the furniture in this room unless invited, you are also not allowed to mess with the fireplace or pull out any of the items on the shelves or baskets" He motioned to the a basket next to the couch that I didn't notice. They sounded like pretty standard rules, though I was not happy to have to live by them. They were rules people would give their pets.

I took some time to look around and smell the area and just like the front door their was a smell of a lot of diffrent people, I could even note the faint smell of things from the outdoors. I found Haley's scent, it was oddly comforting to be able to just smell her scent around the house. I was alone but it felt like she was with me. After Growlithe saw I was done he led me into the room on the left. It was a kitchen, a rather large one too. The floor was wooden and their was what looked almost like a bar counter that extened outwards dividing the room into two sections. In the area closest to the entrance was a small table with four seats neatly tucked underneath. "This is the Kitchen, much like the Living Room we can enter here at any point but we are not allowed to mess with any of the doors here and we cannot have any of their food. Don't worry though, we get fed at specific times during the day." I walked further in and Growlithe followed, it was all nice looking and very tidy. The size diffrence was always something I took for granted and now wondering simply through the Kitchen felt in both ways awe inspiring just from the shear size and magnitude of it and terrifying because things I wouldn't think twice about might actually hurt now. I couldn't even see what was on the counter.

"Wow, this place looks so big."

"Only because you don't know where everything is." Growlithe laughed to himself amused by my reaction. I was surprised myself, I hadn't meant to say that out loud. "You used to be wild before this, right? You probably don't even recognize the things you're looking at." I flinched a little remembering that everyone thought I was a wild Zorua. I hoped questions about my life before all this wouldn't come up because I had no idea what to say, and I might blow my cover. "OK then, well inspite of it's name the 'Living Room' isn't a room anyone lives in, they mostly spend their time relaxing or laughing at things on the TV. Oh- a TV is a flat square object that can be woken up with another object called a 'Remote Control' and it makes things that look like Pokemon or People appear and tells the humans things that are happening in the world or it makes them laugh, sometimes it makes them cry or scared. I know it sounds really weird but humans really like stuff like that." I found it a little funny hearing his explanations on things like what a living room or what a TV is. From the sound of it even though he was smarter than I thought, he was still an animal and didn't know how a TV worked and talked about it almost like it was alive in someway. It made me realize I might never have an intelligent conversation again "Now a Kitchen is-"

I cut him off before he got into a long winded explanation of what a Kitchen was "I gather that the kitchen is the place humans eat, right?" I asked, trying to look naive to it all.

"Yes! It's also where we eat but no begging for their food." he added casually. He led me to a room attached to the kitchen with a much larger table and many seats. The room was a dead end with the only entrance being from the kitchen, I noticed a big bay window in the room as well and the whole room was adorned with with plesant decoration that seemed to compliment and celebrate the fall weather. It was rusty red curtains fake plants meant to look like they had succumed to the season sat on a small end table and the main table was covered in red and gold cloth "This is the dining room, the humans don't normally use this room. It's mostly for celebrations or parties and is occassionally used when they make larger meals than normal. The window there is the only real attraction to this room personally. It's nice to sit there and watch people, their pokemon and other animals go by sometimes." he explained sounding genuinley uninterested in this room. He led me back to the living room and through a set of hallways I didn't notice and explained the purpose of each room and the rules set for each of them. Most of them seemed like typical rules you'd expect for a pet: No getting on furniture, don't chew or play with any of their things, their were even some rooms I wasn't allowed in at all, which was a shame because some of them sounded pretty interesting. Haley's dad had an office on the first floor that he used for his job, I was kinda interested what sort of work went on in there but it made sense to not want animals in there, he didn't want to risk anything being destroyed and it wouldn't be of much use to me as I am now anyways. Their was also a game room but I wasn't allowed in and the door was closed so whatever he had in there would probably remain a mystery. Growlithe commented that he didn't get what was so entertaining about looking at a screen or moving pieces along a board. "Honestly, it seems kinda silly. Their is no movment, everyone is quiet staring at a single thing for hours while only moving their hands. It looks so boring, I don't get what they like about it." he continued as we walked back towards the living room. Most of the doors were closed and I had to take his word on what a lot of the stuff was. It seemed like no one in this house lived on the first floor and the rooms that weren't actively being used were used as guest rooms, I counted four guest rooms.

"Maybe they like the story or the adventure of using their minds to beat each other." I pitched in.

"I hadn't really thought of that." he admitted "You're pretty insightful about humans for a wild pokemon." he mentioned

I froze realizing my mistake, I blew it! I said something he wasn't expecting and now he's suspicous of me! I stammered trying to think of a way to explain my way out of it "I-I, um... that's"

He looked confused for a minute before laughing "Calm down, being smart isn't something you should be concerned about. Be happy that you surprised me. Learn to take a compliment!" he joked. I breathed a heavey sigh of relief not realizing I was holding my breath. He hadn't figured me out, he just thought I was smart. We stopped walking after making it back to the living room, I had to sit down, my legs hurt and I had an ache in my neck.

"Can we sit for a little bit? My neck is killing me."

He chuckled "It's because of the way you were walking." I looked at him confused and hoped he would explain further "I thought it was cute how you were trying to copy me so I didn't say anything, but I didn't think you'd try to commit to it. That's poor posture to have, no wonder you're hurting, marching all over the place, raising your head way too high, is that really what I look like when I walk?" I looked away embarrassed that I was hurting myself copying him and he thought I was being cute. He sat down giving me a break and I gladly took a seat giving my aching legs a rest. "Speaking of pain, how are you holding up? You got into some serious trouble back then." he mentioned cautiously.

"I'm fine, I guess. Hurt like hell when I woke up and found out I broke my leg." I mentioned not really wanting to go too into it. I wasn't unsure where I stood with him so I didn't want to tell him how I used to be human. I could probably get a lot more help considering that not only was he a pure pokemon but he was a trained police dog, but if I couldn't trust him then things could get a hell of a lot worse.

"You were just worried about your leg?" he questioned "After all that I would think you'd be a little more upset."

I thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out the best method of explaining myself "Well yeah, my first thought after waking up was that it was hard to breath, I was confused and a little scared but everything got a little better after awhile, you know?" he seemed happy with that answer and didn't push it.

"Well in either case, Sir and I are especially happy you saved her." he responded with a soft smile. He beat passed between us "Do you mind if I tell you something?" he asked. It made me nervous about what he would ask but against my better judgment I agreed "Haley wasn't the first person to ask to adopt you." that actually surprised me, I figured that at the time it was only Haley that really knew or cared about me.

"What do you mean 'Haley wasn't the first person to ask to adopt you' I thought she wanted me first!" Growlithe looked a little surprised by my reaction and tried to collect himself.

"Well yes, Haley was one of the first people to want you but nothing was set in stone, you were in critical state even after coming out of the operation. People weren't sure if you were even going to walk again and we didn't know where you're parents were. Their was a lot to consider." My suspicions were put somewhat at ease. I don't know why the thought that Haley didn't even want me made me so upset, the first couple days I wanted to leave and wanted nothing to do with anyone. I fell silent before asking a question of my own.

"Who else wanted me?"

"Their was a long line of diffrent people with diffrent agendas. Some of them selfish, some noble and some missplaced but respectable. I was there, you know? The Pokemon Center had meetings set up with some of the people to hear out what they wanted and most of the police force insisted on having a few officers act as extra security just to be safe in case the killer was in the crowd. We weren't sure of his identity or what his motives actually were so we had to be safe. I was in the room with Nurse Joy and Sir." he trailed on "Anyways a few of the more notable ones was a visit from a few diffrent people wanting to put you on a preservation," I wasn't sure how I felt about that. I did have an oppritunity to be released into the wild, and it would have been on land monitored by humans, on top of that if they wanted to put me there that probably meant their would already be Zoroark and Zorua there. It sounded mostly positive but that would have absolutly meant that they would find out I wasn't normal. I had no clue about my powers, abilities and I hardly grasp all of my new senses. I would have probably looked way too incompetent in a pack of Zoroark and Zorua. "Some people from diffrent entertainment buisseness wanted you too, circuses, movie companies, things like that."

"Bleh! Sounds awful, being in front of a camera the whole time, doing routines in front a crowd, no thank you." I grimaced thinking of all that pressure and humiliation.

He laughed at my reaction "That's pretty much what Sir thought. Though I do hear that for the few people that can get a pokemon in your evolution line can save movie companies a lot of money on special effects. I imagine you'd be a huge asset to anyone who owned you in that line of work and would probably be treated well. Well if it's any consolation some rich people wanted you."

"Wait, I thought Haley's dad was rich."

His tone quickly changed and became much more serious "You'll adress him as 'Sir' and no he isn't rich, I doubt he'd have this job if he was." his smile faded quickly from his face. I felt nervous again seeing him suddenly switch like that. Something about my question made him angry but I didn't dare ask the reason why. At that moment he didn't carry the friendly face I kept seeing most of the day. He averted his eyes not wanting to look at me at that moment and stood up. He walked past me and stopped when all I could see was his back "Come on, their's one last room on this floor I forgot to show." the walk was one of crushing silence, I couldn't see his face but I could feel him seething with anger. He didn't look at me, he didn't talk to me, he didn't even yell at me. I wanted to ask what I did wrong, but I was too nervous to say anything and so we walked quietly as he led me back down the hall. He led me to the very end of the hall to a room on the right that had no door at all, I could see the light from the windows shining out into the hall long before I ever saw the room itself.

When we got there one of the first things I noticed was that their were two dog beds laying on the floor one was a large red pillow and the other was a more classic looking dog bed that was a blue color and looked like the bed I had while I was at the Pokemon Center. I walked in to get a better look at it all and on closer inspection of what I assumed was my bed and it was the same bed or at least the same type since it didn't have my scent. Haley must have taken into consideration what I had at the Center to make me feel more comfortable at my new home. The room looked big but I assumed it was a typical sized bedroom converted into a pet room. Their was a basket of toys in one corner of varying sizes, shapes and color. I had my doubts I would ever play with them, their was also shelves one sat low to the gound and the others were set side by side moving upwards, it looked like I could jump up them and eventually reach the ceiling, some of the shelves had a small wooden ramp attaching to each other, I got the feeling it was actually meant to be climbed. Their was also another bay window and at the other end of the room was a litter box, I hated the idea of using that thing but they said I couldn't go outside for a while. The idea of taking care of my buissness outside was embarrassing too but I felt like it had at least a little more dignity than using an item typically used for cats. "That box is meant for you since you aren't allowed outside yet." he said as if to confirm what I was thinking.

He lay down on his red pillow "I'm taking a nap." he grumbled not waiting for a response and curled up trying to sleep. I don't know what I said to throw him out of his good mood so harshly but I felt really guilty about it. I decided to take it as a hint and curled up on my own bed. The light from the sun shown down on our beds and felt warm on my dark fur as I got comfortable. It was actually really easy to sleep that way.

I eventually woke up I peeked slowly opening my eyes to see if Blaze was asleep. He stayed perfectly still and I heard the slow breathing from his end and saw his sides slowly moving up and down with each breath. He was sound asleep and I felt too well rested to sleep anymore. I listened closely to the sounds of the house and heard no signs of any movment elsewhere. Haley was still out and Sir was either still asleep himself or he had left. I stayed there for a moment considering what to do, I didn't just want to lay there, I had more sleep in two weeks than I can ever remember having the rest of my life and I finally had freedom of movment. On the other hand I was worried about waking Blaze up, he didn't seem in the best of moods earlier.

Hesitating for only a moment I pulled myself up and quietly walked out of the room as best I could looking back to see if he woke up every now and then. When I made it out of the rooms line of sight, a little excitment came over me. I felt like I was exploring, and the thought of seeing the rest of this place interested me. I did a light jog past several rooms before my eyes layed sight on the Game Room. Blaze told me to never enter a room with a closed door, but the door was slightly open and what could happen if I just looked around? No one was around and the only person that was is sound asleep. I looked back, our room looked so far back now and I was a little over halfway down the hall.

I crouched low to the ground and stalked closer to the door, I jumped from side to side everynow and then as if to hide I jumped into cover right behind this table holding a plant. I bumped it a little and I heard the pot roll around but it never fell. I peeked around it to look at my target. I crawled to the door and bumped it with my nose, I sneezed a little from the bump but it easily came open. I pushed it open further just enough to squeeze in. I saw a large tv with several game consoles sitting around it on the far end with beanbag sitting in front, I ran over to them and jumped on one of the beanbags. I slid off on my first attempt falling on my back but after a few tries and clawed my way onto one till I could sit on it. It was weird, all floppy and I sunk into it or slid around trying to keep balance.

It was also a little fun, I remembered loving these things as a kid. I jumped on the little hils that formed each time I sunk into a new part of the bag, I liked how you flopped and wiggled on the thing. I rolled off eventually and looked at what else they had in this room. Their was three large arcade machines, the itles of the games were worn but easily readable on the sides but again, I didn't recognize the names as anything from my world. Two of them looked like fighting games and their names supported it "Killer Kombat" and "Raging Streets" were the names, sounded like classic 80's quality games. I ran over to them and the smell was apparent, they were old. If he wasn't rich he was close to it. How much did being a police officer make?

I circled around them trying to get a good look at them and see if their was anything else new I could smell. As I came round the back their was a large mess of cords and wires. I carefully took steps around them, over them and squeezed through the taller ones. It was kinda cool being this small and being able to squeeze into small and tight places like this easily. As I passed the back of the second machine I thoguht I saw something shiny under it. I turned around as best I could in the tight cramped space trying to avoid tripping over the cords. I bent my top half down to try and see it, I couldn't make it out very well, even with my night vision it was so perfectly dark under there that what little of a shadow I cast made it harder to see. I tried stiking one of my paws under their hoping to reach it but no such luck, everytime I touched it I ended up sliding it further back. It was metal, I heard it clink against my nails and scrape against the floor.

Eventually I gave up on it and decided to move on, only I couldn't move. My pawpaw was stuck in the wires! I tried pulling it straight up but it didn't work, I tried grabbing them with my left but all I could do was feebly claw at them. I tried walking backwards but it only managed to tighten its hold on my like a snake. I was trapped, I was trapped behind a machine in a dark cramped space in a room I shouldn't even be in. A few whines escaped as panic slowly crept in and I continued to try and free myself. "Crap, crap, crap, please let me go!" I begged uslessly to the wires. After a while of struggling the panic fully took over and I just started chewing and tugging on the wires. Thanfully it worked as I managed to loosen the wires around my trapped paw and I bolted out from behind, I could feel my legs bump into a lot of wires but I didn't care, I needed air!

I took a few deep breaths after getting out, that was one of the worst ideas I have ever had. I thought I was going to me trapped under there. "Zorua! What are you doing in here?!" I heard Blaze yell from behind me. I quickly turned around, nearly jumping out of my own skin. I didn't notice he walked in. He looked angry, he rushed over to me and I backed down quickly bracing for some sort of attack but it never came. Instead he towered over me making me feel even smaller "I told you not to come in here, why would you ignore me?"

"I wanted to see what was in here." I squeaked

He noticed my fear and took a big sigh. He sat down and spoke in a much calmer manner but I could still feel that he was a little annoyed. "Look, I know you're curious about this house but when you're told not to do something you are expected to listen, understand? No questions, no excuses, no 'if', 'and' or 'but' just do it." the way he talked to me sounded like someone trying to explain something to a child. It was a little embarassing that he had to explain the rules to me like that. He nosed the door open and led me out. Their were so many emotions that boiled in me I felt bad that he was mad at me for ingoring him, I was embarassed that he had to talk to me like a child, and upset that I wasn't allowed to enter a simple room.

I wanted to damand an answer for why I couldn't go into the rooms I wanted, but kept silent. I hated these rules, being restricted, being treated like some animal. It wasn't fair! What did I do to deserve all this?! Yet in spite of my objections I couldn't refuse them without consequence, I knew that. I knew that I needed to find out what happened to me and I knew being trapped would do little to help me, I also knew that if I wanted to survive long enough to figure out a way out of all this I needed to know how to trick humans into beleiving I am a real Zorua. I lifted my gaze from the floor as we made our way back to our room. That growlithe, Blaze, he was a born and raised Pokemon. He had some of the answers I was looking for, he could show me how to be a Pokemon... that would require telling him what I really was. Could I trust him? What would he do if I told him?

We entered the room, my mouth trembled a little trying to find the words to tell him. I'm not a Zorua! I'm a human! I need to tell him that but my nerves are holding me back. My heart raced thinking about all the possibilities of this outcome, he could kill me, he could find out a way to tell the humans I wasn't normal, if they found out I could be thrown into some deep dark lab somewhere, poking and prodding at me trying to figure out how a human can turn into a pokemon. I'd never escape, no leaving, no going back home, but I couldn't just do nothing because it would leave no other option except to get caught.

Blaze layed back down on his pillow and when he noticed me looked at me with concern as I remained frozen at the doorway "Are you okay?" he asked with a distinct tone of concern.

"Blaze," my voice trembled "what do you think I am?"

He looked deeply confused and worried "What are you talking about? Aren't you a Zorua?"

I sat down my legs feeling too weak to hold my body. I tried to speak but I started to wheeze as I opened my mouth and the wheezing turned into loud uncomfortable hacking and coughing. My heart was running a mile a minute and I was coughing trying to get some air while I was trying to explain myself. He rushed over and tried to bring his body into what seemed like it could have been a hug but I scooted away, trying to catch air. "I... I'm n- not... hu- zor,"

"What's wrong?! What is it!"

"I'm... I'm human!" the air returned to my lungs and grew heavy in the room.

"...What?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors note: I'm still not too satisfied with how this chapter and the last one turned out. I tried to make this one better, but it still felt a little too dialouge heavy for me. I tried to balance it out but I'm not too sure how I did. Leave a Review if you don't mind. It helps me figure out what I can improve on my story, what I'm doing right and if people actually like it.**

He stood there frozen staring at me with an expression I couldn't place, it looked like a combination of confusion and worry or maybe fear. Either way he was almost speechless trying to sort through what I just told him. "You're human?" he repeated puzzled. Their was a heavy silence that seemed to encompase the whole house. I could easily hear my own racing heartbeat and I could hear Blaze's heartbeat faster as well.

"Y-yes, I am." I stammered not really sure what to expect from his reaction.

"But you're a Zorua"

"No I'm not- or... well yes, but... I wasn't this way the whole time!" I tried to explain. It was surprisingly harder to explain than I anticipated. "I used to be human, but I woke up looking like this."

He just looked even more confused by this explanation. This wasn't going the way I expected or hoped it would. "But you look like a zorua, talk like a zorua and smell like a zorua. No matter how I look at it you don't seem human." he insisted.

"I am human!" I repeated shouting in frustration "I don't remember how I turned into a Pokemon, but I'm a human in a Pokemon's body!" my whole body was tense, and my heart felt like it was going to explode and I felt like I was on the verge of tears. Blaze's own heart was beating faster, he looked almost scared.

He started pacing, staring at the ground wide eyed and in deep thought, every now and then he would lift his eyes to look at me before shifting them back down. I felt like any moment the stress would kill me, no matter how much I tried to control my breath it just kept racing. I almost wanted the stress to kill me, maybe I would wake up be human and realize this was all just some crazy dream. I wanted to just run back to my bed and hope I wake up with all over this never happening but I didn't move. I didn't dare move until he said something

He stopped pacing, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his heart slowed down back to normal and sat down in front of me staring intently until I looked at him "Okay, I believe you." he answered simply. I was so shocked that all that stress built up in my heart just melted in that sentence and felt like it was just flooding, but I was too confused thinking about what he said to feel anything else but confusion.

"Why? Why do you believe me?"

Once again he looked confused as if this question was pointless or simple "I can't really explain it, it just doesn't feel like a lie. If you need some sort of answer, all I can say is why would you want to lie about being human? Out of any lie a pokemon could tell being human sounds like one of the oddest choices." that made almost no sense! He's going with this because it sounds too stupid to be a lie? Their has to be more to it but nothing I could think of was more comforting or made any more sense, in a few short sentences I won him over because what I said made no sense? He cocked his head slightly and looked off to the side "I'll admit that it's a really incredible and hard to believe story, but you don't look like you're lying." he admited.

"What do you mean by that?" I questioned.

"Well in my line of work reading reactions and body language is very important. You look horrible, like you could fall apart at any moment. Calm down, take a seat and stop panicking. We met a few hours ago and you're already tearing yourself apart to tell me this. It's impossible to believe you're lying. Also judging by how hesitant you were to come forward it looks like you were scared to even tell me even this much."

I was shocked by his level of insight, even if it was from a super powered dog. He analyzed the situation, weighed the options and chances, the information he had, observed my reactions and possible motivations and came up with a complex conclusion. It was like I was talking to another person... no, what made this all unerving was that it felt like he was smarter than me. In that moment, in the course of a few minutes, he did complex thinking and reasoning far from what I could immediately understand. It was oddly relieving and unerving all at once, my racing heart started to slow but I remained nervous.

He motioned his head over to my bed "I think we have a lot to talk about." I stood up but my legs felt like jelly from the panic. I took heavy awkward steps trying to stay on my feet long enough to get to my bed. I laid down on my bed almost throwing myself down, Blaze pulled his pillow closer to mine and sat down "Let me start off by say that if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to tell them, I will do what I can." he offered in a gentle tone.

I hesitated for a moment "Well... I was worried that you get me thrown out."

Blaze tried not to look offended "I would never do that! You're part of the family now, I would do whatever it took to keep you safe. I definitely wouldn't do that to you if you're human. The guilt alone would crush me for leaving you out there to fend for yourself."

"What about Sir?" I asked "What if the humans suddenly decide they didn't want me?"

He fell silent and stared at the ground for a few minutes. He looked back up and looked me dead in the eyes "I would do whatever I could to change their minds." he responded with unfliching confidence. It was weird seeing a dog being so much more passionate and thoughtful than I ever expected a dog could be. "Ultimately that choice isn't up to me though, but that was your concern, right? Being thrown out?"

I nodded slowly "Yes...from what I've gathered things like turning into Pokemon aren't normal even here. I don't know what they would do if they found out, I'd probably be treated like some sort of monster or whatever."

"If that's the case what would you like to be treated as?" he questioned

I rested my head down on my bed "I don't know." I sighed heavily. I thought about what I looked like, how everyone had been talking to me up until this point. As much as I hated to admit it, I enjoyed letting people pet me sometimes, and I could eat animal food and actually enjoy it, and I couldn't speak english even though I understood every word. I looked behind me and saw my big bushy grey tail. I moved it from side to side, up and down... it was easy as moving my legs. In spite of all that I had my human memories, my thoughts felt human, I still had human likes and dislikes. My first impulse was to say "I want to be treated as a human." but with how I looked that might be impossible. Even I couldn't imagine anyone seeing me as a human being anymore. My heart felt heavy with that thought. I was human on the inside but not on the outside. Where was the line drawn for me? I was a pet now, adopted and brought into this home with no consent, could I still call myself human after all that? "I'm covered in fur, I have a tail and paws. As much as I want to, I don't think I can call myself human."

Blaze nodded understandingly "It would be pretty hard to look at you as anything other than a zorua." He stopped for a moment as another thought came to him "It would be best if this didn't get out to any other pokemon as well. I can promise your secret is safe with me but I can't promise that for every pokemon."

"Actually... I... was hoping you could teach me... how to be a Zorua and..." I choked up a little, I didn't want any of this. I felt so weak, so much of my freedoms were being taken from me and what little I had left I felt like I was throwing away just to blend in. I wasn't ready to let go of my humanity, but what other choices do I have? The wheezing came back, it started getting harder to breath and I was fighting back tears at the same time. Blaze didn't make any movments to comfort me like before, he just sat there trying to not look. He wanted to respect my space but I knew he wanted to do more. I tried to lay down and force myself to catch air but with my coughing and spasming it felt like my own body was rebelling against me. After what felt like hours of crying and choking for air I finally felt it all calm down. I had no more energy to cry or feel bad for myself, I just laid on my bed staring lifelessly at the floor.

He finally turned back to me and came over to rest his head on my back, it was almost like he was hugging me. We stayed like that for a while not a word was shared between us but we understood each other just fine, he knew I needed some comfort and in spite of wanting to pull away I welcomed the attention gratefully. He picked himself up and I sat back up too. He gave me this sad sympathetic smile "I'll help you as best as I can, but you managed to even fool me into thinking you were a Zorua so you'll do fine convincing others."

"But, I can't use my powers-"

"And I'll show you how, just... wait a while. I'm not a Dark type, but I'll figure out a way. Just... try to get used to all of this until then."

Just at that moment I the faint sound of light but quick movments from behind. It was hard to judge the distance, but it felt fast approaching. I turned around to look at the door and not more than a couple seconds after turning around a Purple cat came past the opening "Hey Blaze, things are diffrent around here for some reason what's going..." The Purloin stopped at the door noticing my presence. I couldn't tell if it was surprised, concerned or dissapointed but her eyes didn't lay off me for a solid minute. She was at a distance so I couldn't get a good smell, but it seemed identical to the smell I noticed in the carrier. Now that I thought about it, Blaze also smelled like one of the scents in the carrier. She shifted her eyes upwards slightly I followed her gaze back to Blaze, they exchanged looks I couldn't decipher and the Purloin responded with a simple almost dissapointed "Oh" She then left just as quietly as she appeared, looking upset.

"That's Mau," Blaze explained quietly once he was sure she was out of ear shot "Don't mind her too much."

"Does she not like me?" I wondered

"She's... well, she needs convincing to like anyone. She still gets upset when we have visitors, but she'll get used to you in time." he reassured me. I wondered if the "Don't tell any other pokemon." rule applied to her. I'd rather not tempt it, at least not right now. Blaze seemed a little uncomfortable with our meeting so it filled me with even less confidence in trusting her.

My ears perked up when I heard caught the sound of the door opening. Blaze ran out of the room as fast as possible. My back hurt too much to run but I managed a mild jog. As I made it to the living room I looked down the entrance way and noticed Haley had walked in and she had some other people with her, a man but he looked roughly around her age, and a woman of also around her age. I guessed they were two of her friends. The man who I assumed was David if memory serves, She only mentioned having one male friend but she also never mentioned she had other pets, he was a good head taller than Haley and was much taller than the other girl who barely made it to chest level. He somehow managed a decent tan in spite of the weather and had a modest build. He struck me as the outdoorsy type judging by his clothes, they were a lot rougher than the average guy you'd meet but wasn't really too bad looking of a guy.

The other girl looked vaugely aisan, was nicely dressed moreso than Haley, she had fair, long brown hair. Blaze ran up to Haley and was rubbing against her leg and jumping up happily until all three of them started giving him affection. It was such a purely animal reaction, I don't think I could ever get myself to do something like that. They walked down towards my direction "Hey there little guy!" the girl squealed happily, quickly bending down to touch me. The sudden movment of her hands rushing down towards my face made me flinch and I raised one of my paws to try and catch her hands but I failed to even touch them. Her hands were so fast and so massive I waited for the harsh impact against my face but instead she just grabbed both side of my head and started rubbing them fast and very roughly. I tried to pull out my head from her grasp but she didn't seem to notice and eventually I gave up the struggle. It was the most annoying way to pet someone, I barely call that a pet either, she invaded my space at this point. Thankfully it didn't last too long. The new girl seemed a little confused that I didn't enjoy being assaulted.

"Don't worry about it," Haley spoke up trying to cheer her friend up "He's not too used to people yet."

"Geez, Ash could you have been more violent to the little guy? He looks more annoyed, than he does concerned about the new people." The guy joked sarcastically as he walked past and tossed his heavy backpack next to the couch. Mau was laying on the arm of the couch and was slightly startled by the sudden movment and gave David a quick glare before jumping off and moving towards the center of the couch. "I know your big goal is to become a Pokemon Whisperer or whatever but you aren't squeezing information out of their heads." He dropped himself on the couch.

"Tsk." Mau muttered to herself and moved further down the couch

Ashley playfully threw her book at him and he shielding his face with his arms "Shut up, I know what I'm doing! He just didn't like it is all."

"Yep, big diffrence." he smiled and turned on the TV "Hale, what channel is it again?"

"Channel 124." Haley answered casually as she walked into the kitchen. David flipped through the TV guid until he got to the channel. I walked closer to the couch so I could get a better look at whatever he was watching. When he got to the channel only commercials were playingfor some fancy resturant. The food actually looked amazing, they were showing diffrent dishes they served while some lady was voicing over it. They were showing some amazing looking Chicken and steaks with some greens decorating it to make it look even more appealing. I took some digital design classes in high school, fun for them most part, but occasionally some small buissnesses that needed some cheap advertisment would come to our school and more specifically the Digital Design classes. I actually learned this trick, the amazing looking food you will see in pictures or commercials were actually completely inedible and often poisonous all in an attempt to make it look good. Spraying things on it to make it glitter in the light, give it that juicey look to it, ad a little paint on it in certain spots and enhance whatever else on computer. That's why it always looks better than when you actually order it.

Still though, I would kill to have some steak right now. All I've been eating is dry little flavored pellets, the taste itself wasn't exactly the problem but it just wasn't the same as having a good human meal. I know I won't have any of that now unless someone breaks the "No pets eating our food" rule. Maybe sneak some of it to me or give me what they won't eat. At this point I'm not against having their scraps as long as it's the actually edible parts and not the bones or fatty leftovers. On that note I could hear the microwave running in the other room and the sound of popcorn starting to pop. That amazing smell of melted butter wafted in here not soon after. Ashley sat next to David which annoyed Mau once more "Seriously? Learn some personal space people." She was now sitting on the arm on the other side of the couch.

The commercials ended and the title screen for some show appeared. It had this overly fancy font to it complete with gold lettering and glitter effects "National Pokemon show" they called it. David let out a sigh "Ugh, I hate these sort of contests. They aren't even the good kind, how much do you want to bet that we will see at least two Furfrou?" he smirked poking Ashley with his elbow playfully, earning a light punch in the shoulder from Ashley.

Haley walked back in with a big bowl of popcorn. "Stop whining, it isn't going to make this any faster. We're supposed to watch this for an assingment and you know he's a fan of these contests and _will_ find out if you try to bullshit your way through this." she handed the bowel to Ashley and tried to lay Mau on her lap but as soon as Haley let go she jumped off and ran towards our room. Haley just shrugged it off and grabbed a fist full of popcorn.

"Besides these contests aren't that bad." Ashley spoke up

He scoffed "They are glorrified fashion shows for Pokemon. Make them look nice, run a stupid obstacle course, show off their strongest move then get rated an arbitrary number. Can't we watch one of the good contests? You know the ones where Pokemon plan out these complex routines with their powers, use them in creative ways and then battle it out to see if they can be stylish and strong. Those have some freakin soul to it!" That does sound pretty cool. From the sound of it this contest was just the equivalent of a Dog Show, but what David was talking about sounded a lot better than this.

"Get over it, this is supposed to help us observe how diffrent trainers communicate with their Pokemon. Leauge Challengers, Coordinators, and... these people, they do different things with their pokemon but the end goal is that they work together properly to do what they need to." Haley reminded

"No need to lecture me, I'm still here, alright?" I was actually pretty interested myself. It may not be the more flashy Contests like what he was talking about but I was curious how diffrent this actually was from dog shows. Though after a few minutes... Honestly it was facinating but ultimatley wasn't too diffrent from what I thought. All the pokemon were four legged but not all of them were dogs. Some cat pokemon, some dog and again I was dissapointed with the lack of of varity in Pokemon so far I haven't seen a single pokemon that couldn't easily mirror an animal in my world. Their were three Furfrou, one Eevee, a Glameow, a Flareon and surprisingly enough they had a Growlithe among other pokemon. I didn't really envision Growlithe being elegent enough for stuff like this. They always struck me as muscle rather than beauty, speaking of which I stopped paying attention to what Blaze was doing when Ashley started "petting" me, where did he go?

I scanned the room looking for him, I don't think I remember him walking past me towards the pet room. I found him sitting comfortably between Ashley and Haley's legs getting occasionally petted and him enjoying it while every now and then looking back at the TV with mild interest at best. As much as I hate to admit it I felt a tiny bit jealous of the attention he was getting and against my better judgment I sat closer to David and was looking up at him every now and then to see if he noticed me at all. He noticed me after a couple minutes and started petting my head softly, almost like he was afraid to hurt me and didn't really want to touch me. I would stare at Haley trying to see if she was getting jealous that I was being pet by someone else but she barely noticed and when she did she gave me this happy, light smile. The exact opposite of what I wanted, over time David got more comfortable with me and didn't hold back as much but he still wasn't very good at it. In the back of my mind I knew it was stupid and petty but I didn't really care about that at that point.

"So what's his name anyways?" David asked braking the silence,

"Oh, right I forgot to tell you guys." she exclaimed "I actually got the idea when we passed the park."

"Oh, that, ugh." Ashley grimaced remembering something awful or annoying.

"I figured Loki would be a good name for him." How did she know about Norse mythology? Does that stuff exist here? I would have thought it would be all about Arceus and the Legendaries. Heh, or at least The Great Lord Helix. Still though a mechivious pokemon with powers over illusions being named Loki would be a good fit. A little sad that I don't keep my original name but they wouldn't know it and it probably be too out of place to have such a human name for a pokemon.

"Loki the Zorua, huh?" David tested it out "Rolls off the tounge, sounds almost like a cartoon character."

Blaze came over "Loki fits you, it's a good name." he smiled

I shrugged "If you say so... hey how do any of you know about... you know what? Never mind." I don't think I want to know. Blaze raised a curious eyebrow but didn't push it further.

"Do you like that name?" Haley asked as she leaned over to look at me.

"Sure." I answered with a simple shrug, I'm not exactly happy about getting my name changed but not really unhappy either. I guess it hasn't fully sunken in yet, or I'm still just too drained emotionally to care. I felt like it should have been a bigger deal to me than it turned out being. I had just lost what little of my former idenity I had, being given a name by someone else and essentially erasing the validity of my former life in a way. The name I grew up with might as well never existed, I would never really be called by it again. Even if I told everyone my name no human would recognize it and I doubt very many pokemon would care. On those lines of thought I felt even more left out and alone. I was neither pokemon nor human, something in between yet entirely diffrent. Not being enough of a Pokemon to feel comfortable and not nearly human enough to be accepted by them. I knew all of this and what it all meant yet it was those problems that bothered me and not my own name, not my own identity. Why didn't I care?

Haley outstreched her arms for me "Come here, Loki." I reluctanly obeyed and she carefully lifted me up trying not to squeeze me and risk hurting me while I was still healing. She rested me on her lap and started stroking my head and the back of my neck only stopping when her hands reached where my bandages started. I got comfortable and went from sitting to laying down. It was degrading being in a position like this, acting like a simple pet. Embarassment rolled in when I remembered how upset I was that Blaze was getting attention from Haley and not me. Embarassment that even though I was stuck in a position that no one in history has had to deal with I found myself mildly enjoying it. It's weird to say that I hate that I don't completely hate it. The fact that a part of me enjoys this sort of attention, this foreign force that has gotten harder to ignore, I feel like the longer I stay here the more my humanity is compromised. As if to punctuate this whole crisis I was watching a show about Pokemon being purposefully groomed, doing tricks and running obstacle courses for the amusement of humans.

David laughed to himself when the Eevee failed a jump, tripped over a bar and faceplanted. After several more minutes passed watching this admitedly boring contest Ashley spoke up "What exactly are your plans once all this is over? College I mean, planning on entering Loki in contests?" my heart sunk suddenly imagining that faceplanting Eevee was me. I did NOT want to be a part of all that.

"God no," Haley quickly replied sounding disgusted with the idea "I would never take him in contests like these. They look like one of the most degrading things you could do to a Pokemon." I breathed a big sigh of relief, not realizing I was holding my breath. "I mean, I want to be a Coordinator but not in contests like this. I always wanted to be a champion in The Grand Contest." my only guess was this Grand Contest thing was the "good contest" that David mentioned earlier. It sounded better than this at the very least but I would probably be made to look cute or whatever and on top of that I would need to follow orders from my Master. Blegh, even considering someone as my "Master" left a bad taste in my mouth.

"I could see that." Ashley spoke up grabbing a fist of popcorn without taking her eyes off the TV "The Zorua line has some pretty good abilities especially their illusions. With some practice Loki could easily be a star."

David scoffed sarcastically "He already is, no one has stopped talking about him. It's been well over a week and news reporters still aren't done milking this story. You'd think he defeated a whole army on his own."

"Ugh, don't get me started." Haley groaned resting her head on the back of the couch and closing her eyes in irritation "I have practically had to beat reporters away with a bat." I still wondered why this whole thing was such a big deal. Yeah she survived a murder attempt and I apparently helped save her (still wish I could actually remember that part) but everyone has talked about this far more than I feel it should be. It seemed like a national event and somehow I was the most important factor of this. Whenever it got brought up I would always be mentioned without fail. Why did they care so much that I was the one who helped save her life? I was beat senseless and with how much knowledge I have about this body I doubt I actually did anything impressive. I heard Blaze grumble uncomfortably to himself and turned my attention back to his location on the floor next to David, and he quickly turn his head the other way as if to convince me he wasn't just staring at me. What was that about?

It stayed like this for somewhere around an hour. Them watching this boring contest and talking about random things, most of it wasn't too interesting but I found myself wanting to add to their conversations every now and then, not that I could. I could talk to Blaze and Mau but those would probably more limited than their conversations also I get the feeling Mau already doesn't like me. When the show was over the Growlithe was named Best in Show, apparently it was a female named Amber. Kind of a pretty name actually. David looked glad it was finally over, the other looked happy too though "See? It wasn't that bad." Ashley teased pushing David jokingly.

"Meh, the part where they showed off their moves was alright." he shrugged.

"That growlithe had a really great Blast Burn." Haley offered. David just shrugged indifferently once more in response. Blaze got up and walked off back into the direction of the pet room. I was about to jump off Haley's lap but then I noticed the height and froze. I wanted to leave but I didn't trust the fall, much less me actually landing right. Thankfully she noticed me trying to get down and helped me by carefully setting me down. She playfully rubbed my head before goiong back to talking with her friends. I caught up with him in the hall and started walking next to him.

"So... how did you like the contest?" I asked awkwardly, not really knowing what to say to a pokemon for conversation.

He thought about it for a moment and his tail started to wag slightly and a light smile came on. "It's alright, I guess I could see why humans like watching it."

I raised a curious eyebrow, what was with that reaction? "Like... in what way? What did you think was so good?"

Blaze avoided eye contact and cleared his throat "Well... some of the Pokemon were... good."

"I don't get it. Isn't the whole point that their are pokemon in the contest?"

He chuckled to himself, this indirect answering is starting to annoy me "You'll figure it out eventually." He smiled and moved up his pace a little and I tried to match it not wanting him to simply escape from this.

"That's not fair! You can't just dodge my question like that, what do you mean by that?" he just laughed more in response and started moving faster. I ran after him as much as my body allowed and he easily out ran me and went out of sight around the door frame. It took me alittle bit of time to even reach the door and by the time I made it to our room, I was breathing heavier. In spite of how small I was now I felt like I should have more energy than I had. I had stayed still for around two weeks so hopefully this body would eventually make it back into shape. As I huffed trying to catch my breath I noticed that Blaze and Mau were sitting next to each other, with Blaze having his back towards me and Mau sitting in front of Blaze fully having me in her line of sight. Her eyes focused heavily on me, not exactly with hatred but with intense almost predetory concentration. I couldn't tell if it was a stare of caution or anger. A purrloin always had a face that was hard for me to read in the anime and the newer games. I could never place if they looked angry or cocky. The markings on their faces always made it look like their eyes were bigger than they actually were and made it look like they always had this vauge sort of glare.

It was the same in this case as well, but it was like I was under an intense spotlight with that gaze of hers. I felt myself instinctively shiver under the pressure and I lowered my head as my ears fell flat against my head. Blaze turned around he looked a little surprised "Oh, I didn't hear come in I thought I would have a little more time then that." He laughed, with a big grin and his tail lightly slapping on the carpet floor. He's smile faded but he never fully lost his enthusiasim as he looked between me and Mau. "Well..." He mulled over his words for a moment "I guess, I've hogged Loki for a while now. Why don't you two try to get along a little?" he suggested with that big innocent smile of his. It amazed me how he could shift so naturally between this big intimidating pokemon, a thoughtful and intelligent being and then this big doofy ball of smiles without losing a beat. Looks like a lot of work to me.

Mau hesitated for a moment her eyes quickly shifting between me and him and with a large sigh she agreed. Before he left he whispered something quietly in her ear that I couldn't pick up. She nodded as if to confirm something before he left and giving me one final smile before leaving the room. I was alone now, alone with this new pokemon, this new very agressive looking pokemon. She sat perfectly still, her tail flicking slightly as she thought. She turned her sharp gaze back towards me and let out another sigh "So you're Loki, right?" she droned, sounding almost uninterested in even having this conversation.

"Y-yes." I stammered, trying to sit up straight and look more confident than I actually was. Sitting in front of her now I realized she was also bigger than me but only by a little she was only about a head taller than me verses. Compared to Blaze that nearly doubled my size her height wasn't too intimidating

She turned her head and looked off to her left "Aw, geez." I heard her mutter under her breath. She once more turned her attention to me "Let's start off with the basics," she said trying to put a little more effort in sounding welcoming "We'll start over with our names. My name's Mau, I'm a Purrloin."

I beat passed between us before I realized what was happening. "O-oh! I'm, or well, they call me Loki and I'm a Zorua."

I wasn't too sure but she seemed to be a little interested in that. "I think I heard about you, you're wild right?" she asked with her rigid posture slightly relaxing but not by much. My first instinct was to deny that, but that would have probably ended badly. Blaze seemed to have made no mention to her about what I really was and he made it clear that he wanted this to be a secret. I guess it was just him and me who were in on all of this after all.

"Yes- or I guess I used to be." I fumbled through a lie, to nervous and worried she might somehow figure me out.

Mau only responded with rolling her eyes and moved on "I never actually saw a zorua before. Others have described them to me as looking like black Vulpix's with one tail. Honestly... don't see it, but whatever." what kind of conversation is this? It's like I'm being interviewed, which is a whole new brand of worry.

I tried to think of an actual conversation starter "Uh, so... What do you do for fun?" freakin' worst small talk moment ever!

She didn't lose a beat "I don't think that's any of your buissness, small fry." she mentioned very casually and without a hint of sarcasm.

"Right... well... yeah." I lamely responded and just stared at the ground flustered and embarassed at my total lack of social skills. I was at a total loss, she was giving me nothing to work with.

She stood up on her four legs and casually left without any explanation given "Well this was fun," the sarcasm spilling from her mouth "Have fun with... whatever." and she dissapeared. I just sat there stunned and throughly beaten, what just happened? I picked myself up and left the room my mind realing trying to figure out this train wreck. My thoughts were interrupted when I realized Blaze was sitting next to the entrance of the room just out of sight. He seemed just as surprised to see me as I did. He was about to explain why I caught him spying on our conversation but I cut him off.

"I don't want to know right now, let's please just pretend this didn't happen." we both silently agreed on this and he went into the room and I left and didn't look back. Just seeing that room right now was painful after all that.


	6. Apologies for the delay

Hey, I'm not dead! Neither is this story. It's been crazy and this has been held back by a lot of different shit. A combination of procrastination, writers block, and a shitty computer. In case you haven't figured it out this story is on a bit of a hiatus until stuff gets sorted out. Hopefully I can get a new chapter out by the New Year so watch out for that. I fully intend to continue this story.


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